India: Sponge iron trades gather momentum on lower offers - 9 Jul

• Steel prices rise in second half of trading session
  
  
• Central India records over 14,000 t of trades today
  
  

Prices of sponge iron in India declined by INR 50-750/t across regions today due to weak demand for finished steel and generally weak market sentiments.

However, steel prices witnessed a slight increase in the second half of the trading session which triggered buying activity.

PDRI prices were assessed at INR 24,200-26,700/t and CDRI at INR 26,000-30,000/t.

South African non-coking coal prices remained stable today. RB2 (5500 NAR) grade coal prices stood at INR 10,100/t ($121/t) exw Gangavaram.

Buyers who had been waiting for favourable price directions started making purchases today taking advantage of the current market conditions. Central India recorded over 14,000 t of trades today, about 73% of total trade volumes in the country.

About 19,200 tonnes (t) of sponge iron transactions were recorded in the country on Tuesday compared to 5,000 t on 8 July.

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