India: Sponge iron prices rise despite limited demand - 20 May

• Only need-based bookings seen today
  
  
• South Africa RB2 prices remain stable
  
  

Indian sponge iron prices in some key locations rose by by INR 100-300/tonne (t) today. However, demand remained limited because of higher offers. Sponge iron prices in Raipur, Durgapur and Jharsuguda fell by INR 50-300/t.

PDRI market prices closed in a range of INR 28,100-29,400/t and CDRI prices, at INR 29,250-35,200/t.

South African RB2 prices remained stable today. Non-coking coal grade RB2 (5500 NAR) exw-Gangavaram stood at INR 9,900/t ($119/t).

Limited trading activity was reported, as buyers had already placed enough orders in the previous week and were cautious about booking material at the higher offers. So, they came forward for only need-based bookings.

Only 5,400 t of sponge iron transactions were recorded in the country on Monday compared to 7,600 t on 17 May.

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