SteelMint: Odisha iron ore fines index remains supported in recent trade

SteelMint’s weekly Odisha iron ore fines (Fe 62%) index has remained unchanged at INR 4,500/tonne (t) ex-mines (including royalty, DMF and NMET). Market participants reported limited trade activities this week for high grade ore after active response seen in OMC and ESL auctions last week. However, deals for low grade fines continued to remain in place on active export demand.

Rationale:

• T1- A deal was reported for 15,000 t of fines (Fe 62%) at INR 4,500/t and therefore taken into consideration for the index calculation and given 50% weightage.
• T2- SteelMint has included eight (8) offers and indicative prices under T2 trade deals in this publishing window. Out of this, six (6) were taken into consideration and given 50% weightage. To check SteelMint’s iron ore assessment, pricing methodology, and specification documents. Click here

India iron ore prices:

Reasons behind price stability-

• PELLEX remains stable in latest trade: SteelMint’s bi-weekly domestic pellets (Fe 63%) index, PELLEX, stood at INR 9,250/t, stable compared to the last assessment on 20 December, 2022.
• Miners keep offers unchanged: Odisha-based merchant miners kept iron ore offers unchanged this week and may announce fresh offers in the first week of January 2023.

Chandrapur-based miner keeps lump offer unchanged: A Chandrapur, Maharashtra-based iron ore miner has kept lumps offer unchanged (5-18mm, Fe 63%) at INR 7,700-7,800/t FOR Raipur.

Karnataka iron ore auctions receive an active response: Vedanta conducted an auction for the sale of 24,000 t of iron ore lumps on 22 December. About 20,000 t (Fe55-58%) was booked at INR 3,412-3,442/t and other 4,000 t (Fe58-60%) was booked at INR 3,533-3,653/t. Prices were exclusive of royalty, DMF, and NMET charges.
eerabhadrappa Sangappa and Company (VESCO) scheduled 180,000 t of iron ore (fines and lumps) auction on 19 December. 8,000 t of fines (Fe61.60-63.50%) were booked at INR 3,250-3,475/t and 4,000 t of lumps (Fe62.60-64.95%) were booked at INR 4,200-4,550/t. Prices include royalty, DMF and NMET.