SteelMint: PELLEX down by INR 250/t on lower offers, limited deals

SteelMint's bi-weekly domestic pellet (Fe 63%) index, PELLEX, stood at INR 7,650/tonne (t) DAP Raipur on 17 June 2022, down by around INR 250/t compared to the last assessment on 14 June. Around 8,000 t of pellet (Fe 62/Fe63) deals were heard in this publishing window at INR 7,950/t DAP Raipur a few days back but not considered in the index calculation.

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.
  
  
• One deal was reported for 8,000 t but not taken into consideration in this publishing window and hence accorded 0% weightage for T1 trade.
  
  
• Eleven (11) firm offers, bids and indicative prices were reported. Around four (04) were taken for price calculation and given 100% weightage.
  
  
• SteelMint received two bids at around INR 7,150/t-INR 7,500/t DAP Raipur, and only one was considered for calculation of the index.
  
  

A couple of Raipur-based pellet makers cut the offers by around INR 500/t to INR 7,500/t exw ($96/t). However, one of the major pellet makers kept sales closed today.

A Jharsuguda-based pellet maker also lowered offers to INR 7,000-7,200/t exw compared to its last offer.

Buyers may conclude some deals on the basis of the reduced offers today. However, some of the buyers continued to bid on the lower side as lumps offers from Chandrapur were heard at around INR 7,000/t FOR Raipur.

Pellet-based DRI (P-DRI, FeM 80%) prices in Raipur stood at INR 32,000/t exw, up INR 1.500/t w-o-w. On a daily basis, sponge iron prices also increased by around INR 700/t.

Indian pellets market overview:

India pellet offers across regions continued to fall this week too. Owing to lack of demand and uncertainty in the market, buyers stayed away.

• Iron ore pellet (Fe 63%) prices in Bellary inched down to INR 8,450/t exw today as against INR 8,500/t on 14 June, as per SteelMint's assessment.
  
  
• Jindal SAW decreased pellet offers today. The current offer for Fe 63% pellets stands at INR 10,000/t ($128/t) DAP Kandla compared to offers at INR 10,750/t ($138/t) heard at the beginning of June. Around 5,000 t of deals were recorded at INR 10,000/t recently.
  
  

Region-wise pellet offers an deals: