SteelMint’s assessment for domestic 304 grade stainless steel scrap prices have recovered to INR 128,000/t ($1,629/t) ex-Delhi today as against INR 120,000/t ($1,527/t) on 28 July. On the other side, 304 grade HRC ex-Mumbai prices hovered at around INR 239,000/t ($3042/t) with minor improvement from last week level.
Prices have shown recovery due to improved demand amid upcoming festive season.
Market highlights
Indian mills have actively started buying in the scrap market. Buyers are bidding good prices for stainless steel scrap in comparison to overseas scrap price offers which stand around $1,550-1,580/t.
Finished stainless steel prices surged due to strong demand amid upcoming festive season. “We are getting good demand from auto and railway segments,” one of the major north Indian mill official said.
After weak GDP data and PMI of US and China, all base metals have come under pressure. LME nickel 3-month prices were down by 0.19% yesterday which further dropped in today’s trade by around 6% to $22,690/t level at the time of reporting the article.
Ferro alloys prices drop
Ferro alloys like ferro chrome, ferro silicon and silico manganese are used as raw material in stainless steel production. Indian ferro alloys prices continued downtrend last week due to soft global demand and weak domestic market.
According to SteelMint’s assessment on 28 July, producers were offering ferro chrome at around INR 100,000-101,000/t exw-Jajpur.
Outlook
Indian stainless steel prices are expected to remain firm looking fresh demand coming from various sectors and supportive ferro alloys prices, although Nickel LME price fluctuations raise concerns among market players which impacts cash flow and margins of domestic scrap traders.
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