India: Iron ore concentrate prices stay supported amid hike in pellet offers

Jabalpur's iron ore concentrate prices remain stable, supported by pending deliveries, stable Odisha iron ore prices, and increased pellet offers.

SteelMint's bi-weekly index for Fe 63% concentrate remains at INR 5,200/tonne (ex-works), unchanged from 9 December, 2023. Offers are also reported at a higher level of INR 5,500/tonne (ex-works), with no reported deals at this offer.

Rationale:

• One (1) trade of 20,000 t was recorded in this publishing window and was accorded with 50% weightage.
  
  
• Eight (8) offers and indicative prices were reported, out of which seven (7) were taken into consideration as T2 trades, receiving 50% weightage.
  
  

Factors supporting concentrate prices:

• Hike in pellet offers: Raipur-based pellet makers have hiked pellet (Fe 63% +/-0.5) offers by INR 300/t ($3/t) to INR 9,900-10,000/t ($119-120/t) exw-Raipur, effective from 13 December, 2023. However, so far, no deal has been recorded at revised prices. Active pellet export deals and improved sponge and finished steel prices supported the raw pellets offers.
  
  
• Stability in Odisha iron ore fines prices w-o-w: SteelMint's weekly Odisha iron ore fines (Fe 62%) index remained stable at INR 5,000/t ex-mines on 9 December, 2023. On the other hand, iron ore fines export trades remained supported in the past few weeks amid an active response from China as buyers booked bulk cargo from the east coast. Additionally, export deals of lower grade lumps were also concluded from Odisha-based parties this week.
  
  

Outlook

Iron ore concentrate offers are expected to remain supported in the near term. However, fluctuation in pellet and Odisha iron ore prices might become a deciding factor.