Indian ferro silicon prices rose further to INR 143,000/t ex-works (exw), an increase of INR 3,000/t w-o-w.
Meanwhile, in Bhutan, a major producer released its prices yesterday which are INR 2,000/t lower than the market prices of INR 134,000/t. This brought down the prices for a short period of time.
It is expected that, in a week, the prices in Bhutan will increase too after producers sell sufficient volumes in the market. Current prices in Bhutan are at around INR 134,000/t. Although many bulk deals happened at INR 132,000/t after the producer released their prices, the dispatches happened only after a week at least.
For ready dispatches, the deals in Bhutan were concluded at around INR 140,0000/t exw.
As per market sources, there is an increased number of inquiries from the export market, but the producers remained more focused on the domestic market. The supply-demand mismatch has driven the prices to sky-high levels. Therefore, the domestic market remained more lucrative to the Bhutanese and Indian smelters. Issues relating to container and labour availability are also discouraging the smelters from exporting.
Meanwhile, the international market remains strong with Chinese offers at $1,820/t FoB for 75% grade material. However, due to the import duty from China, the Indian buyers are losing interest in importing ferro silicon at higher price offers.
Outlook
Indian smelters are hopeful that the prices may increase further as none of the producers have enough volumes to cater to bulk orders for immediate dispatches. But, considering the tepid steel market, buyers are resisting bulk orders, resorting only to buying in smaller parcels.
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