India: Iron ore concentrate prices remain under pressure on limited trade activities

Iron ore concentrate prices in India have remained under pressure for another week. Limited trade activities, falling pellet and iron ore prices have weighed on bids. Additionally, pending deliveries of old orders had also limited fresh bookings for some sellers.

BigMint's weekly iron ore concentrate index stood at INR 4,200/t ($50/t) exw, showing a fall of INR 50/t ($1/t) as against the last assessment on 13 July.Iron ore concentrate offers have inched down w-o-w to INR 4,200-4,300/t exw levels. However, buyers' bids were heard at lower levels of INR 4,000-4,100 ($48-49/t) exw. Although, deals at such lower price levels are still awaited.

Rationale:

• No trades were recorded in this publishing window, and were accorded with a 0% weightage.
  
  
• Ten (10) offers and indicative prices were reported, out of which nine (9) were taken into consideration as T2 trades, receiving 100% weightage.
  
  

Factors that are driving prices down-

• PELLEX falls by INR 50/t on muted trade, bid-offer disparity - BigMint's bi-weekly domestic pellet (Fe63%) index fell by INR 50/t to INR 9,100/t ($109/t) DAP Raipur on 16 July, 2024 compared to the last assessment on 12 July. No major pellet deals were witnessed in the Raipur region amid lack of buying interest. Major sponge iron producers remained in a wait-and-watch mode as they were waiting for price recovery in the sponge and finished steel segments.
  
  
• Odisha iron ore fines index falls INR 200/t w-o-w on lower offers - BigMint's Odisha iron ore fines (Fe 62%) index dropped by INR 200/tonne (t) w-o-w to INR 4,500/t ($53/t) ex-mines on 13 July, 2024. Iron ore prices in the Odisha region remained under pressure following mixed market sentiments in between the market participants. The pellet and sponge prices showed a fluctuation and pressure from the seaborne market which led to a drop in Odisha iron ore prices.