Sponge iron prices in India rise further but buyers stay away – 18 Feb

Sponge iron prices in India continued to rise further today. They were up by INR 50-600/tonne (t) in key locations as suppliers quoted higher. However, prices in Bellary witnessed a slight drop of INR 50/t. Producers were forced to raise their offers in some markets today due to strong purchase inquiries and rising prices in the Punjab market. But, overall, a limited number of deals were concluded today. Because of the higher offers, market participants were less active today than they were yesterday. As a result, about 9,170 tonnes (t) of sponge iron transactions were recorded today in India as against 27,500 t on 17 February.

Buying activity in the spot market had increased significantly over the past few days which had boosted the transaction volumes yesterday. 

Snapshots of key markets

• Rourkela: There was lack of buying interest and spot trade volumes remained low. Buyers had booked sufficient orders over the past couple of days and hence decided to hold back their bids today.
• Raipur: Limited trading activity was witnessed today at higher offers. Buyers had booked in sufficient quantities in the past few days. But, sellers did not decrease their offers. Overall, the market remained slow.
• Bellary: Due to the festive holiday today, the  market mostly remained silent. Spot buying in sponge iron remained subdued today. This also affected spot trade volumes.
• Durgapur: Prices continued to increase due to strong sentiments from other regions. Spot trades were limited, though, on account of higher offers.
• Ramgarh: Sluggish trends prevailed on Mahashivratri holiday today. Sellers increased offers as raw material prices were  on the higher side followed by weak demand in the market today.

Rationale –

This index has been derived based on transactions, offers, bids and indicative price data sets. Transactions are considered as T1 and given a weightage of 50% whereas other data sets are considered as T2 and given a weightage of the balance 50%.

Click for detailed methodology

T1 – Trade, T2 – Offer/Bid/Indicative