India: Sponge iron prices drop on weak spot demand - 23 Aug

Indian sponge iron prices dropped by INR 100-500/tonne (t) in almost all major locations today.

Sponge iron prices declined due to a downtrend in semi-finished and finished steel, resulting in low demand and limited trading throughout the day. PDRI prices closed at INR 23,400-26,600/t while CDRI was assessed at INR 26,000-30,000/t.

South African RB2 (5500 NAR) coal prices remained stable on Friday at INR 9,650/t ($114/t) ex-Gangavaram.

Only 4,500 t of sponge iron transactions were recorded in the country compared to 6,300 t on 22 August.

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