In week 28, blast furnace grade pellet premium moved up by USD 1.50/DMT, CFR China. Pellet premium for Fe 65% was assessed at USD 23.5/DMT, CFR China against its last week’s (week 27) assessment at USD 22/DMT, CFR China.
Premium was up as heavy rains surrounded south China which kept Chinese mills to look for lumps and pellets instead of fines. Due to high moisture, mills have no other choice to choose lumps and pellets instead of fines to use it as raw material feed for their mills.
As we have reported earlier, domestic concentrate supply is tight in China leading to a shift in buying interest of Chinese steel mills towards seaborne pellets and lumps.
Pellet inventory at Chinese major ports is at 5.20 MnT in Week 28, down by 7.1% as it was 5.60 MnT in Week 27. Seaborne pellet inventories are decreasing continuously. In week 26, inventories were recorded at 5.8 MnT.
Spot lump premium remains steady in Week 28
In week 28, spot lump premium remains stable at USD 0.165/DMT, CFR China.
Seaborne lump inventories at Chinese major ports were recorded at 11.05 MnT in week 28, up by 3.2% as it was 10.7 MnT in Week 27.
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