India: SteelMint's billet index drops INR 350/t on weak demand - 19 July

SteelMint's billet index fell by INR 350/tonne (t) d-o-d to INR 40,750/t exw-Raipur on 19 July, 2023.

Weak buying activity weighed on the index today, and lower bids pushed sellers to reduce their offers. Today's market activity and material movement in semi-finished and finished steel were subdued as a result of bearish sentiments in the north Indian market.

Transactions for 2,460 t were recorded today as against 2,400 t on 18 July.

Slow buying activity and sluggish demand in the finished steel segment impacted market sentiments today, resulting in a modest decline in prices.

SteelMint's daily price assessment for rebar fell by INR 400/t, while wire rod prices fell by INR 500/t today. Sponge iron prices in Raipur decreased by INR 300/t today.

Around 650 t of wire rod and 630 t of rebar deals were recorded in Raipur today.

The conversion spread from sponge iron (PDRI) to billets of the standalone furnaces in Raipur was recorded at INR 14,700/t.

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%.

• Transactions (T1) - Six trades at INR 40,650-40,800/t was recorded during the 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm SteelMint trading window and considered for final price calculation as T1 inputs. The average of these transactions was INR 40,770/t which is given a 50% weightage in the final price calculation.
  
  
• Other Price Indicators - bids/offers/indicative (T2) - Ten offers reported in the trading window and considered as T2 inputs. The average price of these ten was INR 40,775/t and given a 50% weightage in the final price calculation.
  
  

The final price for billet exw Raipur was at INR 40,773/t, rounded to INR 40,750/t exw.

Click for detailed methodology

T1 - Trade, T2 - Offer/Bid/Indicative, *Normalized price as per methodology