Indian Sponge Iron Export Prices Drop Further in Recent Deals

Following slump in Indian domestic sponge prices, the export offers have also declined and as per exporters the fresh deals have been take place to the small as well major mills to Bangladesh.

Meanwhile with the recent export deals, SteelMint's sponge iron price assessment further drop by USD 5-10/MT and total of USD 10-15/MT towards the beginning of last week.

The latest deals for exports reported at close to USD 310/MT CPT Benapole (dry port of India & Bangladesh), equivalent to USD 330/MT CFR Chittagong, Bangladesh. However during the last week offers for the same hover at USD 320-325/MT CPT & USD 340-345/MT CFR Chittagong.

The mills in Bangladesh being informed, fresh deals on dipped prices. Although they are eyeing for further drop in offers due to low cost imported scrap.

Imported scrap offers showed mix trend in recent deals for Shredded and HMS scrap this week. Containerised Shredded scrap is being offered in the range USD 325/MT CFR. HMS (80:20) from US is at around USD 310-315/MT, CFR Chittagong.

Hence, following low cost scrap, the smelters in Bangladesh are looking substitutes at cheaper prices to maintain their input cost.

Will Indian sponge iron prices drop further ?

Participants believe that, Indian sponge iron prices may remain under pressure due to healthier supply, constant fall in raw materials & global scrap as well. This may force producers to keep prices on lower side.

Presently the domestic offers in eastern India for 80 FeM lumps hovering at USD 19,300-19,500/MT (USD 272-275) ex-works, Odisha & Jharkhand. These prices fall by INR 500/MT (USD 7) in last 3-5 days.

India's sponge iron export to Bangladesh increased sharply in calendar year 2018 (Jan-Nov) and stood at 327,735 MT as against in 2017 (Jan-Dec) at 254,663, gained more than 28% in the first 11 month's.