Indian Pig Iron Prices Move Up by Another INR 200-400/MT

Indian Steel Grade Pig iron market opens with an uptick of 200-400/MT (USD 3-5).

Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL), India’s largest state owned merchant Pig iron manufacturer had increased prices last week by INR 600/MT. Now, private manufacturers too have raised their offers.

Current offers are at INR 17,000-17,500 MT ( ex-Cuttack), INR 18,600/ MT (ex-Raigarh) and 18,400-18,500/MT (ex-Durgapur) on ex-plant basis excluding excise and other taxes.

Participants are waiting for Steel Authority of India’s Pig iron prices for September, which will further set the direction of the market.

Last few tenders by Indian exporters have failed to fetch bids owing to lower scrap prices in global market.

Global Pig iron market

Pig iron offers at Black Sea slipped by around USD 15/MT after consistent fall in scrap prices in global market.

Current offers for Pig iron is at USD 205/MT FoB Black Sea, which was earlier at USD 220/MT. Turkey based smelters have heard bought cargoes at USD 220/MT CFR Turkey and are expecting prices to fall further by USD 10-15/MT.

Scrap offers to Turkey have also fallen significantly by USD 10-15 in last one week. HMS 80:20 offers are reported at USD 198-200/MT, CFR Turkey levels.

Outlook

Indian Pig iron prices may not sustain looking at falling scrap and iron ore prices. Factors that may pull down domestic Pig iron prices are

1. Domestic miners have cut iron ore prices drastically in last one month
2. Imported scrap offers have corrected by USD 15-20/MT M-o-M
3. Met coke offers from China have corrected upto USD 6-8/MT M-o-M
4. Increasing domestic availability of Pooled iron, which is a substitute of Pig iron.

Steel grade Pig iron prices as on 16 Sept’15