Indian Sponge Iron offers to Bangladesh slip as domestic inquiries weaken

Export offers for Sponge Iron to Bangladesh fell by about USD 5-10/MT Week-on-Week, primarily owing to decline in domestic inquiries in India.

SteelMint's current week price assessment for lumps grade FeM 78-80 sponge iron stood at around USD 385-390/MT CPT Benpole (dry land port of Bangladesh & India) and about USD 405/MT CFR Chhittagong, Bangladesh. Meanwhile, offers during last week was hovering at USD 395-400/MT CPT & USD 415-420/MT, CFR Chhittagong; down by USD 10/MT, W-o-W.

Kolkata - An east India based exporter stated, "buying interest is average presently, however falling Indian domestic prices have also been inducing corrections in prices for exports.

Another major reason behind pressure on export prices is the improved supply as clearance time through the Benapole (dry port of India & Bangladesh) has been reduced to 10-15 days against 20 days reported earlier," he added.

Notably, the Indian domestic sponge iron prices which were soaring over last couple of weeks have gradually come under pressure since major Iron ore miners in Odisha have resumed operations.

According to SteelMint assessment domestic sponge iron prices fell by about INR 700-1,400/MT (USD 10-21) in a week and presently offers for 78-80 FeM Sponge C-DRI stand at INR 21,300-21,500/MT (USD 328-331) ex-Durgapur & INR 20,200-20,400/MT (USD 311-314) ex-Rourkela, East India.

Imported Scrap

Imported scrap offers to Bangladesh are last heard for shredded scrap from UK and USA at USD 415-420/MT, while offers for HMS 1&2 (80:20) are at around USD 400/MT (both in containers) from Dubai and Brazil, CFR Chhittagong.

The local ship breaking scrap prices in Bangladesh are reported at around BDT 35,000/MT (USD 424), ex-works and excluding local taxes.

Bangladesh bulk scrap imports fell by 16% M-o-M in Feb'18. The country has imported about 75,980 MT ferrous scrap in Feb'18 as against 90,650 MT in Jan'18, as per ports data maintained with SteelMint.

In Feb'18, United States and United Kingdom each supplied around 0.04 MnT ferrous scrap in bulk vessels while a vessel booked from USA carrying 31,210 MT is currently at anchorage in Bangladesh.