India: BigMint's billet index touches a 5-month low - 8 July

BigMint's billet index declined further by INR 400/t, reaching INR 39,250/t exw-Raipur on 8 July, 2024.

The billet index touched a new low today, marking the lowest level in the last five months. This decline is primarily due to weak buying demand in both the semi-finished and finished steel throughout the day, leading to a significant decrease in spot offerings.

Weak demand in finished steel deterred buyers from procuring raw materials, and sellers, in turn, had no choice but to cut down production in the coming days.

Around 1,100 t deals were recorded today, against 1,500 t as on 5 July.

In Raipur, rebar prices fell slightly by INR 100/t, with 500 t of trades being recorded. The price of wire rod declined by INR 300/t d-o-d. Additionally, the price of sponge iron in Raipur decreased by INR 100/t today.

The conversion spread from sponge iron (PDRI) to billets for the standalone furnaces in the region was recorded at INR 13,650/t.

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%.

• Transactions (T1) - Four trades at INR 39,200-39,600/t were recorded during the 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm BigMint trading window and considered for final price calculation as T1 inputs. The average of these transactions was INR 39,237/t which is given a 50% weightage in the final price calculation.
  
  
• Other price indicators - bids/offers/indicative (T2) - Seven offers were reported in the trading window and considered as T2 inputs. The average price of these seven was INR 39,290/t and given a 50% weightage in the final price calculation.
  
  

The final price of billet exw Raipur was at INR 39,263/t, rounded to INR 39,250/t exw.

Click for detailed methodology