India: Iron ore concentrate prices remain rangebound in recent deals

Iron ore concentrate prices in Jabalpur, central India, remained rangebound this week amid stability in iron ore prices post NMDC's price revision for October month.

SteelMint's assessment of Fe 63% concentrate prices currently stands at around INR 2,950/tonne (t) exw, stable as against the last assessment on 8 October.

Meanwhile, deals of around 50,000 t were heard at around INR 2,900-3,000/t this week, which was taken into consideration in the T1 trade of the index.

Factors supporting iron ore concentrate prices:

• Stability in iron ore prices: Iron ore prices in most of the Indian markets remained stable this week. SteelMint's weekly Odisha iron ore fines (Fe 62%) index remained largely stable at INR 3,500/t ex-mines in the recent deals concluded. However, trade activities have witnessed an increase on lower inventories and less trades seen in the past few weeks.
  
  
• NMDC rolls over iron ore prices: India's largest merchant iron ore mining company, NMDC, has kept iron ore prices unchanged for October deliveries, SteelMint learnt from reliable sources. NMDC fixed prices for lump iron ore (65.5%, 6-40mm) at INR 4,100/t, DR CLO (Fe 67%, 10-40mm) at INR 4,920/t and iron fines (64% - 10mm) at INR 2,910/t (FoR prices, excluding royalty, DMF and NMET) with effect from today.
  
  

Outlook

Iron ore concentrate prices are likely to remain range-bound in the near term. However, the deciding factor could be the movement of pellet and iron ore prices.