Chinese steel mills have resisted from importing pellets at a very high price owing to other economical feedstocks available. Steel mills in China are considering procuring concentrate and producing pellets much economical than importing pellets at a higher price.
Iron ore concentrate price for Fe 66% is at around USD 88/MT, CFR China. Pellets price would stand at around USD 105-107/MT which is being preferred to Chinese steel mills.
Traders also mentioned about rising stocks at Chinese major ports. Pellet inventory at Chinese major ports have increased from 1.75 MnT in 1st week of Nov’17 to 1.9 MnT pellets in last week.
As per market sources report to SteelMint, an east India based pellet maker had offered around 50,000 MT pellets, but interest of participants remained subdued.
This has resulted in fall in price assessment of Indian pellet exports. SteelMint export price assessment for Indian origin pellets has come down further his week. Current assessment stands a USD 116-117/MT, CFR China (equivalent to USD 106-107/MT, FoB) against last week’s assessment of USD 118-120/MT, CFR China.
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