India: Iron ore concentrate prices remain stable in recent deals

• NMDC CG auction receives active participation
  
  
• Pellet, Odisha iron ore prices support offers
  
  
• Monsoon rains to put pressure on prices
  
  

Iron ore concentrate prices in Jabalpur, central India, remained stable this week. Supportive sentiments in the pellet and Odisha iron ore markets along with active trades before monsoon have kept concentrate offers supported, BigMint learnt.

BigMint's weekly iron ore concentrate index stood at INR 5,000/t ($60/t) exw, stable as against the last assessment on 1 June, 2024.

Rationale:

• Two (2) trades of 30,000 t were recorded in this publishing window, and were considered under T1 trade and was accorded with a 50% weightage.
  
  
• Ten (10) offers and indicative prices were reported and nine (9) were taken into consideration as T2 trades, receiving 50% weightage.
  
  

Factors supporting concentrate offers:

• Active participation in NMDC CG iron ore auction: NMDC conducted an auction for over 165,000 t of iron ore from Chhattisgarh on 31 May, 2024. Around 86,000 t of fines (Fe 64%) were booked at base price of INR 5,750/t ($69/t) and 17,200 t of DR-CLO (10-40 mm, Fe 67%) at INR 9,015/t ($108/t, 19% premium). Meanwhile, around 17,200 t of ROM (10-150 mm, Fe 65.5%) also received bids. Prices include royalty, DMF and NMET.
  
  
• Odisha iron ore fines prices rise INR 100/t w-o-w: BigMint's weekly Odisha iron ore fines (Fe 62%) index increased by INR 100/t ($1/t) w-o-w to INR 5,500/t ($66/t) ex-mines on 1 June, 2024. Prices remained supported as major merchant miners kept their offers on the higher side. Some trading activities were seen in the market as buyers booked on the basis of immediate requirements from miners in Odisha post-OMC's auction.
  
  
• Pellet prices remain stable: BigMint's bi-weekly domestic pellet (Fe 63%) index remained stable at INR 11,000/t ($132/t) DAP Raipur on 4 June, 2024 compared to the last assessment on 31 May. However, Raipur pellet market remained muted as market players waited for parliamentary election results. No major trading activity was witnessed in the region as most of the steelmakers remained sidelined this week.
  
  

Outlook

Iron ore concentrate offers are expected to remain supported by positive sentiments from the Odisha iron ore and pellets markets. However, demand for concentrates typically slows down during the monsoon - which is expected to weigh on offers.