India: Ferro molybdenum prices remain stable amid regular market activities

• Stainless steel prices stable w-o-w
• Around 80 t of material traded last week

Indian ferro molybdenum prices remained largely stable, edging down slightly by INR 11,250/t ($130/t) as compared to the previous assessment on 12 February, 2025. Prices were steady as no major movement was observed in the market and routine trading activities were seen.

Ferro molybdenum prices in India were INR 2,560,000/t ($29,524/t) exw, as per BigMint’s assessment on 19 February. Around 80 t of deals were reported last week in the price bracket of INR 2,500,000-2,590,000/t ($28,832-29,870/t) exw.

Market update (13-19 Feb’25)

Steady market sentiments: The supply-demand dynamics in the domestic ferro molybdenum market didn’t witness any major fluctuation and overall sentiments were steady evidenced by trades getting concluded last week. An Indian seller told BigMint recently, “Sentiments are better in the domestic as well as international markets. Our offers are currently ranging between INR 2,560,000-2,580,000/t ($29,524-29,752/t) exw.”

Global price trends: In China, prices have moved down by RMB 2,000/t ($275/t) w-o-w to RMB 229,000/t ($31,440/t) exw-Inner Mongolia. Demand in the finished steel segment was sluggish resulting in an increase in inventory levels. Hence, some mills opted to reduce output which led to lower purchases of ferro molybdenum. However, there wasn’t much of a decline in offers from sellers as they were hopeful of an impending uptick in demand and raw material prices stabilising in the near term.

In the US and Europe, Mo:70% prices went up marginally by $0.4/kg and $0.6/kg w-o-w to $51/kg and $50/kg, respectively. Reports indicated that supplies of both molybdenum oxide and ferro molybdenum were tighter in the European market.

Prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) remained steady, inching down slightly by $0.1/lb w-o-w to $20.5/lb on 19 February.

Finished steel scenario: Stainless steel prices for 316 grade HRC were unchanged w-o-w at INR 321,000/t ($3,702/t) exw-Mumbai. Demand for this grade remained weaker compared to other grades. With limited activities in this sector, market participants are not expecting any significant improvement in demand in the near term.

Outlook

Taking into account existing market conditions, prices are likely to stay rangebound in the days ahead.