India: SteelMint's billet index drops INR 400/t on weak steel demand - 23 Oct

SteelMint's billet index fell by INR 400/tonne (t) d-o-d to INR 41,500/t exw-Raipur on 23 October, 2023.

The billet index experienced a significant decline today, primarily because of lower offerings from sellers. Additionally, the impact of festive holidays across the country slowed down market activity. However, in the semi-finished category, buying activity showed a slight increase today, likely due to a limited offering in an attempt to attract buying demand d-o-d.

About 1,600 t deals in billet were recorded today as against 1,300 t on 21 October.

Today, wire rod prices fell by INR 300/t, while rebar prices slumped by INR 700/t. Sponge iron prices in Raipur plunged by INR 500/t d-o-d.

Around 500 t of wire rod deals were concluded in Raipur today.

The conversion spread from sponge iron (PDRI) to billet of the standalone furnaces in Raipur was recorded at INR 14,000/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) - Four trades at INR 41,400-41,500/t were recorded during 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm as per SteelMint trading window and considered for final price calculation as T1 inputs. The average of these transactions was INR 41,468/t which is given a 50% weightage in the final price calculation.
  
  
• Other price indicators - bids/offers/indicative (T2) - Seven offers were reported in the trading window and considered as T2 inputs. The average price of these seven was INR 41,517/t and given a 50% weightage in the final price calculation.
  
  

The final price for billet exw Raipur was at INR 41,493/t exw, rounded to INR 41,500/t exw.

Click for detailed methodology

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