SteelMint: PELLEX inches down by INR 50/t on muted trades

SteelMint's bi-weekly domestic pellets (Fe 63%) index, PELLEX, stood at INR 9,950/tonne (t) DAP Raipur, inching down further by INR 50/t compared to the last assessment on 10 February, 2023. No deals were reported in the current publishing window.

Rationale:

• PELLEX has been derived using data points, i.e. trades, offers and bids. To download the detailed methodology, Click here.
  
  
• No deal was reported hence not considered in this publishing window and accorded 0% weightage for T1 trade.
  
  
• Nine (9) firm offers, bids and indicative prices were reported. Six (6) were taken for price calculation and given the balance 100% weightage.
  
  
• SteelMint received two bids at INR 9,150-9,650/t DAP Raipur out of which only one was considered for index calculation in this publishing window.
  
  

Raipur-based pellets producers floated offers at INR 9,900-10,200/t ($120-123/t) exw from INR 10,100-10,200/t ($122-123/t) exw. Meanwhile, Godawari Power and Ispat offered pellets (Fe 63.5%, +/-0.5) at INR 10,200/t exw ($123/t) from INR 10,500/t exw ($127/t) on 16 January, 2023.

Most of the steel mills holding pellets as they are expecting further price cuts in the coming days. Meanwhile, the market was mostly silent and participants are looking for more clarity, resulting bid-offer disparity.

Another major factor is OMC's auction which is round the corner and mills are waiting for auction response and this may be a deciding factor for further market trend in upcoming months. However, buyers are looking for some price revision in the iron ore to get some relief from high raw material prices on falling sponge and billets offers.

SteelMint's price assessment for sponge P-DRI (FeM 80%) in Raipur fell by INR 300/t w-o-w to INR 31,300/t exw. However, sponge iron prices increased by INR 600/t d-o-d.

Region-wise offers and deals: