Indian DRI, billet and rebar update – 23 Feb

Spot steel prices of Indian secondary mills have declined up to INR 900/t ($12), d-o-d, on account of lessened demand, however the market recovered later at the end of the day on slightly improved inquiries on expectations of a rebound in prices.

As per SteelMint’s assessment, domestic sponge iron and billet prices have dropped by INR 100-700/t in most of the locations. In line with this, rebar prices have also declined by INR 100-900/t with a major fall of INR 900/t at Hyderabad (Southern India).

Semi Finished

• Durgapur based Neo Metaliks has reduced steel grade pig iron offer by INR 500/t to INR 35,500/t exw. The prices fell on account of constant drop in billet prices.
• Recently, an Eastern India based primary mill concluded a billet export deal for 2 rakes (5,500 t) to Nepal at around $550-555/t CPT Raxaul border. Meanwhile offers for Induction grade billets continue downtrend and currently assessed at $525-530/t CPT Nepal, via road delivery.
• Raipur based sponge manufacturers have lower P-DRI offers by INR 200-300/t to INR 25,500-25,600/t, however few deals learned at around INR 25,400-25,500/t exw.
• Raigarh based Singhal Steel offered billet at INR 36,200/t exw.
• Odisha based plant – Jai jagannath sponge offered billet at INR 36,300/t exw.
• BIOP Steels in South India has kept FeM 80 C-DRI lumps offers unchanged at INR 25,500/t exw Bellary.
• BMM Ispat offered FeM 80 P-DRI lumps at INR 25,300/t exw Bellary.

Rebar (12 mm)

• BS TMX TMT offers at INR 41,100/t exw Raigarh (Down by INR 300/t).
• Rathi Stelmax TMT is offering at INR 43,650/t exw Delhi/NCR (Down by INR 500/t).
• Century TMT offers at INR 41,800/t exw Muzaffarnagar (Down by INR 500/t).
• Mono TMT kept offers stable at INR 45,400/t FoR Ahmedabad.
• Polaad TMT offers unchanged at INR 45,500/t exw Jalna.

Wire Rod and Structure

• Indian wire rod export offers of blast furnace grade (SAE 1008) assessed at around $645/t, while through the mid scale mills for commercial grade it is about $590/t CPT Nepal.
• Trade discounts in Raipur wire rod increased to INR 1,500-2,000/t despite drop in base offers by INR 500/t, following which trade reference price dropped by INR 600/t to INR 39,600-40,000/t exw. Meanwhile, prices in Durgapur also went down by INR 700/t to INR 40,800-41,000/t exw.
• Raipur based heavy structure steel manufacturers, kept stable the base price of 150 mm Channel at INR 41,700/t, and given trade discount by INR 1,000-1,300/t, current trade reference price of 200 mm Angle is at INR 43,400-43,800/t exw.

Reference prices as on 23rd Feb’21