SteelMint: PELLEX climbs to over six-month high in recent deals

SteelMint's bi-weekly domestic pellets (Fe 63%) index, PELLEX, stood at INR 9,250/tonne (t), up by INR 350/t compared to the last assessment on 16 December, 2022. With this the Pellex reached a six-month high. Current level were last seen towards the end of May 2022. However, around 38,000 t of deals were reported in this publishing window.

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.
  
  
• Two deals were reported and only one was taken into consideration in this publishing window and accorded 50% weightage for T1 trade.
  
  
• Seven (07) firm offers, bids and indicative prices were reported. All were taken for price calculation and given the balance 100% weightage.
  
  
• SteelMint received only one bid at INR 9,200/t DAP Raipur which was not considered for index calculation in this publishing window.
  
  

Raipur-based pellets producers increased their offers by up to INR 9,000-9,200/t ($109-111/t) exw from INR 8,800-8,900/t ($106-108/t) exw, last weekend post-active response in OMC's iron ore auction. Meanwhile, Godawari Power and Ispat has increased domestic pellets (Fe63.5%, +/-0.5) offers by INR 300/t ($4/t) to INR 9,500/t exw ($115/t) from INR 9,200/t exw ($111/t) on 7 December.

OMC conducted iron ore lump auction last week for 650,000 t of material but 442,000 t, or 68% of the total quantity, received bids. Bid prices in the auction increased sharply by up to INR 2,200/t against the previous auction on 16 November. Similarly, bid price for fines increased by up to INR 400/t against the last auction.

SteelMint's price assessment for sponge P-DRI (FeM 80%) in Raipur also moved up to INR 30,550/t w-o-w as against INR 30,300/t exw on 13 December. However, sponge iron prices decreased by INR 200/t d-o-d as against INR 30,750/t exw on 19 December.

Region-wise pellets offers and deals: