India: Sponge iron prices drop further on weak spot demand - 24 Apr

Indian sponge iron prices fell further today by INR 50-500/t in all major locations. Prices fell due to the downtrend in the semi-finished and finished long steel segments which led to weak demand throughout the day.

PDRI market prices closed at a range of INR 27,500-28,850/t and CDRI prices were assessed at INR 28,500-34,600/t.

South African RB2 coal prices remained stable today. Non-coking coal (5500 NAR) prices stood at INR 9,850/t ($118/t) exw Gangavaram.

As a result, buyers turned up only for need-based bookings. Owing to weak market sentiments, spot trade volumes fell further by 10% d-o-d.

Around 4,600 tonnes (t) of sponge iron transactions were recorded in the country on Wednesday compared to 5,100 t on 23 April.

Rationale -

Prices have been derived based on transactions, offers, bids and indicative price data sets. Transactions are considered as T1 and given a weightage of 50% whereas other data sets are considered as T2 and given a weightage of the balance 50%.

Click for detailed methodology

T1 - Trade, T2 - Offer/Bid/Indicative