Indian Sponge Iron Export Offers Stable on Limited Buying Interest

Amid fluctuation in Indian domestic sponge prices, the export offers to Bangladesh have remained more or less firm, as per SteelMint's weekly assessment.

As per assessment, the export deals of Indian sponge iron have remained range bound as against last week at close to USD 330/MT CNF Chittagong (Bangladesh), equivalent to USD 310/MT CPT Benapole (dry port of India & Bangladesh).

The local finished steel demand in Bangladesh is not up to the mark, resulting slow down buying for raw materials', a Kolkata based exporter stated.

He further added that, in comparison with Imported scrap, the sponge iron import offers are more attractive, although as the mills have sufficient stock of raw materials, they are presently not in mood for further major bookings. Notably, the mills in Bangladesh recent have booked couple of bulk imported scrap vessels (each vessel comprising about 30,000-32,000 MT shredded/hms scrap) which deliveries to be made in coming month.

Also as per the bulk shipment data compiled by SteelMint, Bangladesh Imported two bulk shipments of HBI from Ukraine in March 2019. The vessel name Sam Hawk to carry 55,500 MT HBI & another vessel - Tai Summit containing 58,200 MT HBI from the Yuzhny port based in Ukraine.

-- The imported scrap offers are currently hovering at USD 350/MT CNF Chittagong, Bangladesh for containerised shredded grade from US & Europe.

It is analysed that, the deals of Indian sponge iron are largely through the sea route (Chittagong port) as waiting period for dry port (CPT Benapole) have raised to 10-15 days.