SteelMint: PELLEX climbs to a seven-month high on hike in offers

SteelMint's bi-weekly domestic pellet (Fe 63%) index, PELLEX, stood at INR 14,400/tonne (t) DAP Raipur on 8 Mar'22, up around INR 1,100/t against the last assessment on 4 March. The index has hit a seven-month high as the similar price levels were last seen in Aug'21.

Rationale:

• PELLEX has been derived using data points: i.e. trades, offers and bids. You can download the detailed methodology by clicking on this link Click here.
  
  
• Around 64,000 t deals were reported and taken into consideration in this publishing window, and accorded 50% weightage.
  
  
• Four (04) firm offers, bids and indicative prices were reported. All were taken for price calculation and given 50% weightage.
  
  

Raipur-based pellet producers have raised offers by INR 500/t yesterday. The current offer for Fe 64/63% pellets stands at INR 14,500/t ($189/t) exw from INR 14,000/t ($182/t) on 4 Mar'22. The recovery in exports amidst higher global prices and recent trades in the domestic market have pushed up offers, SteelMint notes. However, a couple of players from Raipur and Jharsuguda are not offering in the domestic market this week.

A few buyers have informed that a Raipur-based sponge player has concluded a pellet deal from Karnataka recently at INR 13,000/t landed. However, the news could not be confirmed till the time of publishing this index. NMDC has put on offer 20,000 t of pellets (Fe 63%) for sale at INR 10,500/t FOT Donimalai.

NMDC (Chhattisgarh) has raised iron ore prices further by upto INR 480/t today. DR-CLO prices increased by INR 480/t and fines by INR 400/t. The hike in iron ore prices in Odisha and pellet offers have resulted in hike in offers.

Pellet-based DRI (P-DRI, FeM 80%) prices in Raipur increased by INR 1,900/t w-o-w to INR 43,700/t exw compared to last week's offers. However, on a daily basis, prices decreased by around INR 300/t today.

Indian pellets market overview: Domestic pellets prices increased by around INR 650-2,300/t w-o-w across the regions.

SteelMint's current assessment for iron ore pellets (Fe 63%) moved up by INR 2,300/t to INR 14,000/t exw-Durgapur today.

Iron ore pellet (Fe 63%) prices in Bellary, Karnataka increased by INR 650/t to INR 11,350/t exw today, as per SteelMint assessment.

Region-wise pellets offers and deals: