India: Sponge iron prices fall on limited buying interest - 3 Mar

Sponge iron prices fell by INR 50-300/t in key locations of the country amid lack of buying enquiries due to weak sentiments in the spot market. This, in turn, prompted sponge suppliers in various regions to reduce their offers.

About 17,200 t of sponge iron transactions were recorded today in India as against 14,500 t on 2 March.

Snapshots of key markets

• Rourkela: Trades remained below average. Market participants lacked trust in the direction of price change. As a result, spot trading was considerably restricted. Volatility in prices persisted and buyers are still buying as per immediate requirements.
  
  
• Raipur: Increase in buying activities was observed today at lower offers. Since limited booking was done in the past few days buyers showed some initiative in booking material.
  
  
• Bellary: Buying activity remained slow d-o-d as buyers are expecting a further drop in prices. This led to limited enquiries and spot trades remaining limited.
  
  
• Durgapur: The market edged down on account of sluggish sentiments in the northern region. Sellers reduced offers as buying activity was limited. Further, the upcoming Holi festival might slow down trading activity for a few days.
  
  
• Ramgarh: The market remained mostly silent owing to weak spot trading. Prices of semis were impacted due to limited demand in the northern region.
  
  

Rationale -
This index has 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