India: Ferro silicon prices stable on import-export price parity

Indian ferro silicon prices remained firm with marginal corrections seen w-o-w as producers maintained parity with import-export offers.

According to SteelMint’s assessment on 11 Feb’22, ferro silicon (70%) prices are at around INR 145,000/t exw- from both Guwahati and Bhutan.

Weekly highlights

• The smelters are receiving a lot of export inquiries, mostly from European countries. Several factors, including a gas supply shortage, high coke prices, and the Russia-Ukrainian conflict are driving up prices of ferro silicon in Europe. As a result, European buyers are more interested in the Indian material. Consequently, Indian and Bhutanese producers are more interested in overseas sales since export offers are much more profitable than domestic. Those catering to the domestic market are keeping prices firm.
• In addition, SAIL concluded a major ferro silicon auction for 11,220 tonnes at L1 price of INR 152,514/t on a ‘weighted average landed cost net of set-off ‘ basis. The L1 is close to the current market price. As a result, producers kept their offers firm too.
• Furthermore, a good amount of material from overseas has been arriving at India’s western and southern ports for around $1,925/t CIF, for 70% grade, and at around $1,955/t CIF for 72% grade. Import bookings have put some pressure on prices amid reduced demand.
• Domestic buyers are bargaining hard and trying to bring down the prices, but sellers are unwilling to decrease their offers as steel prices have improved.

Outlook
Most of the producers are engaged in catering to government tenders and export orders. This may lead to limited supply and price uptick in the upcoming weeks.