Iron ore & pellets –
- Iron ore exports from Australia’s Port Hedland increased 25% m-o-m in Mar ’21.
- Vedanta remained the largest bidder in Goa iron ore e-auction held on 24th Mar ’21. The government of Goa organized the 25th e-auction for 1.7 mn t iron ore on 24th Mar’21. About 1.03 mn t (65% of total) iron ore was booked out of the total offered quantity.
- JSW Steel suspended the iron ore lumps supply from its Nuagaon mines to third-party buyers in view of the allegations by state authorities that discrepancies had occurred in the calculation of gross weight of iron ore being lifted from JSW mines.
Coal –
- RB2 portside prices remained range-bound amid limited trades. Offers were heard at INR 6,600-6,700/t at Gangavaram port which are anticipated to go down further amid COVID-led restrictions.
- India’s Thermal coal imports moved up by 24% in March as imports from South Africa surge.
- Vizag Steel (RINL) conducted an auction for 5,000 t nut coke (by road mode) on 10 Apr’21. The auction received good participation with the entire quantity getting booked at around INR 22,500/t ex-works.
Scrap & Metallics –
- SteelMint’s domestic steel scrap index increased slightly to INR 37,400/t DAP Mandi Gobindgarh. Semi-finished price improvement resulted in hike in raw material prices in line with the market requirement.
- Japan’s leading EAF mill – Tokyo Steel announced the first scrap purchase price revision after witnessing consecutive price cuts since mid-Mar’21. The company has hiked its scrap purchase prices by up to JPY 1,500 ($14) for all five works.
- SteelMint’s Benchmark sponge iron (P-DRI) prices rebounded by INR 200/t to INR 29,400/t ($393), exw Raipur, Central India. The prices recovered following the rally in billet prices.
Semi-finished steel –
- Indian billet exports during FY ’21 registered a significant rise to reach a little over seven mn t against 1.8 mn t in FY ’20. According to data maintained with SteelMint, the Indian billet exports to China rose by eleven-fold y-o-y in FY ’21 to 3.23 mn t.
- SteelMint’s daily billet index has been assessed at INR 41,100/t (+800) exw Raipur on 12th Apr ’21. Trade sources reported that demand remained active from the local & outside buyers and healthy deals were reported from Hyderabad, Southern India.
- SAIL’s Bhilai Steel Plant recorded over 0.6 mn t of secondary steel sales in FY ’21.
Finished steel –
- Vietnam’s Formosa Ha Tinh increased monthly HRC prices by upto $145/t for June’21 delivery tracking hike in imported offers.
- China’s Shagang Steel raised long steel price by RMB 200/t ($31) for mid-Apr deliveries.
- APL Apollo announced second price hike in pipes for Apr ’21 and raised offers by INR 2,000/t.
- India’s automobile industry witnessed a negative growth of 13.6% in FY ’21 with 18.6 mn units including passenger cars, commercial vehicles, three-wheelers and two-wheelers, as against 21.54 mn units sold in the same period a year back.
- India’s Prakash Industries recorded highest ever steel sales at 954,760 t in FY ’21
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