BigMint is a Market Intelligence and Price Reporting firm that caters to the data and analytics requirements of businesses in the commodities sector. It publishes real time prices and information, which is impartial, independent and reliable, sourced from all industry interfaces – sellers, buyers, agents and traders. This data is filtered and passed through very stringent, calculative assessments before final prices are derived, thereby giving our clients accurate pricing.

Go to List

SteelMint: India pellet export index falls $9 w-o-w as global iron ore prices drop

...

Pellets

BigMint Bureau

430 Reads

26 Apr 2023, 19:48 IST

SteelMint: India pellet export index falls $9 w-o-w as global iron ore prices drop

SteelMint's India pellet (Fe 63%, 3% Al) export index FOB east coast was recorded at $100/tonne (t), decreasing by $9/t w-o-w, due to low demand in China and the upcoming labour holidays.

Indian pellet players are currently holding back offers for exports and thus, there are very less offers in the market. State-owned KIOCL has floated a tender for exports of 50,000 t of iron ore pellets. The due date for submission of bids is 14.00 hrs IST on 26 April to 14.00 hrs IST on 27 April.

Rationale

No deal was recorded this week and, thus, given 0% weightage in index calculation.

Nine (9) indicative offers and bids were received, and seven (7) were considered for calculation of the index, given 100% weightage.

Pellet export shipments at Indian ports rise

India's pellet export shipments were recorded at 170,500 t in the third week of April in comparison with around 116,350 t in the second week of the month, as per vessel line-up data maintained with SteelMint.

Market highlights-

Domestic market realisations better than exports: Domestic pellet (Fe 63%) prices stood at INR 8,700/t loaded on to wagon for Barbil, eastern India. On the other hand, SteelMint's pellet export ex-plant price realization for the Barbil region dropped further by INR 400/t w-o-w to INR 6,200/t this week, making exports unviable.

Global iron ore prices edge down w-o-w: The benchmark Fe 62% fines index decreased sharply by $16.1/t w-o-w to over a four-month low at $104.35/t CFR China on 25 April as against $120.45/t, a week ago. Iron ore spot prices in China moved down due to a weak futures market and sluggish trade in the import market ahead of the upcoming weeklong holidays.

DCE iron ore futures fall: Iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) for September 2023 contract closed at RMB 716.5/t on 26 April (at 3 pm), decreasing by RMB 61/t ($9/t) against RMB 777.5/t on 19 April. Prices inched up by RMB 5.5/t d-o-d against RMB 711/t a day before.

Pellet port inventories in China stable: Pellet inventory at China's major ports stood at 7.15 mnt this week, stable w-o-w.

Outlook

Currently, Indian pellet manufacturers are getting better realisations in the domestic market. As the Chinese players are going on holidays in the first week of next month, the pellet export market would remain muted in the near term.