SteelMint’s India pellet export index (Fe 64%, 3% Al, FOB east coast) remains range-bound at $126/t. Weakening steel margins have forced a few northern China-based mills to announce maintenance shutdowns, voluntarily curbing output.
It was heard that several mills in China were reselling their cargoes in the secondary market due to the current bleak sentiments in the finished steel market and production restrictions at blast furnace facilities.
As per reports, another round of emergency restrictions has been imposed on steel mills in Tangshan city, especially curbs onsintering and coking facilities starting 15 Nov.
State-run KIOCL had floated an export tender for 55,000 t of pellets (Fe 63% with 2-2.1% Al content) on 13 Nov. The deal was heard concluded at $150/t FOB. KIOCL operates a 3.5 mn t/year pellet plant in Mangalore, Karnataka.
An eastern India-based pellet manufacturer was heard to have concluded an export deal for about 50,000t for China. However, the price could not be confirmed till the time of publishing this report.
“The market is still silent. Not many offers are there in the market at present”, a trader source highlighted.
As per data maintained with SteelMint, pellet exports from Indian ports for the week (7 Nov-13 Nov) were recorded at nil as against 107,000t last week.
Rationale:
- No deal was heard concluded in this publishing window. Hence, the weightagegiven was 0%.
- Four (4) indicative offers and bids were received, and three (3) were considered for calculation of the index, given a weightage of 100%.
Market highlights
- Pellet inventory at Chinese ports rises, w-o-w: Total pellet inventory at China’s major ports was recorded at 4.3 mn t last week, as against 4.1 mn t the week before.
- Domestic pellet prices decrease, w-o-w: SteelMint’s bi-weekly domestic pellet (Fe 63%) index, PELLEX, fell by INR 200/t to INR 11,450/t DAP Raipur on 16 Nov.
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