SteelMint | Morning Brief

Iron ore & pellets -

• SteelMint's weekly low-grade Indian iron ore fines (Fe 57%) export index remained stable at $92/t FOB east coast India in recently reported deals. Demand for low grade ore continues to remain weak in China with discounts for low-grade ore widening to 34-35%.
  
  
• Chowgule Group's Mandovi located 1.8 mn t pa plant restarted its full-fledged operations, the company informed in its Twitter handle. The plant has resumed operations after a gap of about nine years after operations had been halted in 2012 after a mining ban was imposed in Goa and Karnataka.
  
  
• Australia's leading miner Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) has released its quarterly results for Q1 CY'21. The miner has set FY'21 (July 20-June'21) shipment guidance at 178-182 mn t. It has increased the guidance against its last announcement of 175-180 mn t.
  
  

Coal -

• South Africa's Trasnet Freight Rail (TFR) has confirmed derailment of 44 wagons that damaged 1km of the rail line. This is unlikely to have a major impact on Indian buying sentiments in the short-run as Indian importers are already at bay and are delaying their coal purchases due to rising COVID cases, reduced demand from end user-segment, and shut-down of steel plants due to oxygen shortage in the country.
  
  
• Indian domestic prices for blast furnace grade metallurgical coke have been edging down as trading activities were relatively thin despite aggravated supply concerns due to rising Covid cases. India's domestically produced met coke prices for the 25-90 mm, blast furnace grade are currently hovering at around INR 28,000/t (east coast) and INR 29,000/t (west coast).
  
  
• In a confirmed deal, 5,000 tonne of RB2 (5500 NAR) coal has been sold at INR 6,500/t ex-Gopalpur, down by INR 250/t against the trade price on Monday.
  
  

Scrap & Metalics -

• Benchmark sponge iron (P-DRI) prices gained by INR 400/t to INR 28,800/t ($389), exw Raipur, Central India. As per plants, sentiments turned optimistic on active demand from outside the state buyers i.e. from Maharashtra.
  
  
• SteelMint's domestic steel scrap index marginally increased to INR 37,800/t DAP Mandi Gobindgarh. Market participants highlighted certain supply issues of semi-finished steel and melting scrap which pushed prices up.
  
  
• With the recently concluded bulk cargo bookings, imported scrap prices to Turkey have gone up slightly by $7 w-o-w. SteelMint's assessment for US-origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) currently stands at $432/t CFR Turkey.
  
  

Semi-finished steel -

• SteelMint's daily billet index has been assessed to be at INR 41,200/t (+300) exw Raipur on 29th Apr'21 at 18:00 IST. The index remains strong on account of active demand from the local & outside (Maharashtra & Punjab) states. Thus, the suppliers have raised their offers according to acceptance.
  
  
• Iranian billet export prices continue to witness a rise. This week, the prices rose by around $10 w-o-w in recent deals. According to SteelMint's sources, a couple of leading Iranian mills sold around 60,000 t (30,000 t each) billets in China for June '21 shipments. The deals were in the price range of $590-600/t, FoB Iran.
  
  
• Vizag Steel, an Indian state-owned mill, has floated export tenders for 80,000 t billets and blooms of sizes- 65*65mm, 90*90mm, 150*150mm, and 200*200mm. The tender due dates are 03 May '21 (for 150*150mm and 200*200mm) and 05 May '21 (for 65*65mm and 90*90mm).
  
  

Finished steel -

• Indian steelmakers are likely to increase HRC and CRC price in May in the backdrop of higher export realisations in global market. After gaining momentum in the last few months, Indian HRC and CRC trade prices are being recorded at all-time highs. SteelMint's benchmark prices for 2.5mm thickness HRC now stands at INR 65,000-66,000/t and CRC at INR 79,500-80,500/t (exy-Mumbai). The prices mentioned are basic and GST extra @18% is applicable.
  
  

Ferro alloys -

• Indian ferrosilicon prices surged after the supply issues intensified during the week. Most of the producers remain out of stock and are only fulfilling the backlog orders. Currently, prices are at around INR 112,000/t Ex-Bhutan and INR 120,000-121,000/t Ex-Guwahati.