SteelMint: India low-grade iron ore fines export index falls to over one-month low, deals remain absent

SteelMint's weekly index for India's low-grade iron ore fines (Fe 57%) exports stood at $51/t FOB east coast, down $10/t w-o-w. Drop in global iron ore fines prices, weaker iron and steel futures have weighed down bids for Indian ore in China.

Price indicators:

• No deal was reported so far this week, hence, not taken into price calculation under T1 trade and given no weightage in index calculation. Click here for methodology.
  
  
• SteelMint received eight (08) indicative prices, bids and offers in the current publishing window and four (04) were considered for price calculation as T2 inputs and given 100% weightage.
  
  

According to sources, many Indian sellers are still holding the offers at around $65/t FOB east coast in anticipation of a positive demand outlook. But there are hardly any firm bids at the moment.

Few bids are heard even lower at $65-70/t CFR China. The huge price gap between bids and offers have resulted in the absence of trades.

Market highlights:

• Fe 62% spot iron ore prices down $9/t w-o-w: The spot price of benchmark iron ore (Fe 62%) fines decreased $9.4/t w-o-w to $133.5/t CFR China on 11 May, 2022 as against $142.9/t a week ago. Seaborne iron ore prices fell on market expectations of weak demand.
  
  
• DCE iron ore futures sharply decrease on week: DCE iron ore futures' September contract closed at RMB 796/t ($117/t) on 12 May, 2022, a decrease by RMB 75.5/t ($11/t) compared with the previous week. On a daily basis, prices decreased by around RMB 25/t ($4/t).
  
  
• Port inventories in China inch up: Iron ore inventory at major Chinese ports inched up to 145.35 mnt on 5 May, 2022 compared to 149 mnt last week, as per SteelHome data.