India: Ferro silicon prices up; but market awaits price clarity from Bhutan

• Prices in India rise amid delay in BIS licenses renewals of Bhutan producers
  
  
• Drop seen in ZCE future contracts for March delivery
  
  

Indian ferro silicon (70%) prices saw a w-o-w increase of INR 1,000/tonne ($12/t) as compared to the previous assessment on 29 January. Nevertheless, as the month came to an end, trading activities also decreased as most market participants awaited new prices from Bhutan.

As per BigMint's assessment on 5 February, Indian ferro silicon prices stood at INR 110,000/t ($1,324/t) exw-Guwahati. Bhutan's prices stayed steady at INR 110,000/t ($1,324/t) exw.

Weekly market round-up

Prices in India increased majorly in the past few weeks since it took a bit longer for Bhutanese manufacturers to renew their BIS licenses. Most of the producers were catering to previously booked orders and because of this, trade volume decreased by month-end. As a result, prices stayed at the earlier higher levels since producers were waiting for Bhutan to release prices for this month.

With a nominal decrease of RMB 50/t ($7/t) w-o-w, prices (Si:75%) in China, prices stayed stable at RMB 7,000/t ($985/t) exw-Inner Mongolia. Producers tried to sell the material before the Lunar holidays but demand remained limited.

On China's Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange (ZCE), ferro silicon futures for the March 2024 delivery contract saw a w-o-w decrease of RMB 316/t ($44/t) to RMB 6,506/t ($915/t) on 5 February.

Outlook

Bhutanese players have declared offers for this month at INR 107,000/t ($1,288/t) exw. Consequently, prices are expected to hold steady at this level in the upcoming days.