Nepal Steel Mills Book Healthy Volumes of Sponge Iron from India
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The major mills in Nepal have resumed purchase for raw materials as recently Indian sponge iron bookings were reported this week.
If participants are to be believed the average deal price for the 4-5 rakes of sponge C-DRI (FeM 80) is near to USD 239-240/MT (loaded to rake) from eastern India. This attract freight cost of around USD 25/MT for CPT Raxaul/Jogbani border, Nepal. Each rake carries about 2,500 MT sponge iron, hence about 12,000-13,000 MT sponge iron sold to Nepal this week.
In addition, Indian exporters have concluded export deals to Bangladesh for about 5,000-6,000 MT. The deal price for the material was reported at near to USD 270/MT CPT Benapole (dry port of India & Bangladesh). This is equivalent to USD 285/MT CFR Chittagong, Bangladesh.
Indian Sponge iron demand is quite good since scrap prices rally globally. As per sponge manufacturers specifically in eastern India, they are not much interested to sell material at current price range due to high production cost along with healthy orders in hand. Thus anticipations are high, that sponge iron prices to remain strong.
On day trade activities, the Indian domestic sponge prices surge by INR 100-300/MT (upto USD 4) and offers of Sponge C-DRI (FeM 78-80) stood at INR 16,800-17,000/MT (USD 234-237) ex-Rourkela (eastern India), INR 16,600-16,800/MT (USD 232-235) ex-Bellary (south India) & INR 17,600-17,800/MT (USD 245-248) ex-Raipur in Central India, excluding of 18% GST.