According to trade sources report to the SteelMint, Odisha’s based merchant iron ore miners are heard to have further increased discounts over announced offers to stimulate trade activities. According to sources, after the announced successive price hikes, iron ore demand has witnessed offering a continuous discount.
SteelMint learned from the sources that currently trade prices for Fe 63% fines are around INR 3,000/MT and for 5-18 mm (Fe 63%) around INR 5,700/MT (ex-mines, including Royalty, DMF & NMET). Prices mentioned are for regular quantity bookings and not for bulk buyers. Bulk quantities buying may attract further discount.
A month back, trade reference prices were INR 3,100-3,200/MT and INR 5,800-5,900/MT for fines and 5-18mm respectively.
After the three successive price hikes between an end of Aug and early Sept’18 Odisha based merchant miners were facing narrowed buying interest following which they started giving quantity discounts to stimulate the buying interest.
Which all factors have resulted in increasing trade discounts in Odisha iron ore?
1. Decline in domestic pellet offers – In Durgapur (eastern India) pellet prices have come down by INR 300-400/MT M-o-M and are presently trading around INR 8,000-8,100/MT.
2. Indian pellet export offers plunge on limited Chinese buying interest – In a month time frame, Indian pellet export prices have come down sharply to USD 140/MT, CFR China down by USD 10-15/MT M-o-M. Chinese mills’ preference towards iron ore fines over pellets has lowered Indian pellet export prices.
Odisha iron ore Dispatches decline by 5% in Sept’18 – Odisha – India’s largest iron ore producing state recorded dispatches at 6.07 MnT decreased by 5% on monthly basis as against 6.39 MnT in Aug’18 due to monsoon.
Leave a Reply