SteelMint: PELLEX falls marginally as landed offers attract buyers

SteelMint's bi-weekly domestic pellet (Fe 63%) index, PELLEX, fell marginally by INR 50/t to INR 11,050/t DAP Raipur on 24 Sep'21. Few deals by nearby Raipur and West Bengal-based players were recorded by SteelMint during this assessment period.

Competitive offer from other states may keep the pellet prices in Raipur under pressure. SteelMint learnt, a West Bengal-based pellet maker was heard offering pellets at INR 10,700/t FOR Raipur and deals of around 20,000 t of pellets were also heard to be concluded.

However, Raipur-based pellet players kept offers stable at INR 11,400-11,700/t exw for this week. However, hardly any buying interest was observed at these levels. On the other hand, a major pellet producer in Raipur continued to be under maintenance shutdown.

Jharsuguda-based producers have also kept the offers stable at INR 10,500/t exw. But, a Raigarh-based pellet maker decreased the offers by INR 200/t to INR 10,800/t exw.

SteelMint's benchmark price assessment for Raipur sponge P-DRI (FeM 80%) fell by INR 100/t d-o-d to INR 30,300/t exw. Lower bids have kept prices lowered in today's trade. On a weekly basis, prices have moved up by INR 100/t.

Indian pellets market overview:

Indian pellet prices seem to be mostly stable across the region in this publishing window.
Bellary iron ore pellet (Fe 63%) prices remain stable at INR 11,300/t for the week.

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 totalling around 14,000 t. Both deals were considered in this publishing window as T1 for index calculation, being given 50% weightage. A West Bengal-based pellet maker sold around 4,000 t of pellets to Raipur at INR 10,700/t on FOR Raipur basis in the last two days.
  
  
• Eleven (11) firm offers and indicative prices were reported. Two were from Raipur and the rest from outside the state capital. Seven (07) were taken for price calculation and given a weightage of 50%.
  
  
• SteelMint received one bid also and considered for calculation of the index.
  
  

Region-wise pellet deals and offers: