India: Sponge iron prices drop on soft steel demand - 20 Jan

Sponge iron prices in almost all key domestic markets dropped in the range of INR 50-300/tonne (t) on 20 January, 2024 due to soft steel demand. However, sponge iron prices only in the southern region rose by INR 50-150/t.

PDRI market prices closed at a range of INR 25,100-27,350/t and CDRI prices, at INR 26,700-31,500/t.

Very few spot transactions were seen which led to a decline in both offers and bids, thereby exerting further pressure on suppliers.

Only 2,305 tonnes (t) of sponge iron transactions were recorded in the country on Saturday compared to 17,630 t on 19 January.

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