SteelMint: PELLEX remains stable in recent trade

• Pellet offers remain firm, decline in sponge prices limit pellet buying inquiries
  
  
• Iron ore dispatches from NMDC Chhattisgarh to state-based units show a slight fall amid COVID concerns
  
  

SteelMint's bi-weekly domestic pellet index "PELLEX " remained stable at INR 14,550/t DAP Raipur in a recent deal. Single deal of 10,000 t pellet has been reported in this publishing window at INR 14,650/t DAP, Raipur.

Raipur based pellet makers have kept the offers stable at INR 14,500- 15,000/t exw for Fe 63/62.5% grade. However, demand for pellet remained weak owing to extended lock down and pandemic situation in the city.

As per the sources reported to SteelMint, Raipur market may face tighter pellet availability in the upcoming weeks once the COVID situation improves. A couple of pellet makers have scheduled exports dispatches next month. Therefore, pellet prices are expected to remain supported in the near short term.

On the other side, iron ore dispatches from NMDC Chhattisgarh are also getting hampered due to the prevailing COVID cases followed by lock down. As per the SteelMint data, iron ore rake movement from NMDC to CG based units has decreased around 29% to 10 rakes last week against 14 rakes a week before.

Increasing iron ore lumps offer by the Odisha merchant miners amid limited availability of high-grade ore may continue to keep the pellet prices supported.

The Raipur based plants floated P-DRI offers at INR 28,700-28,800/t exw. Meanwhile, a few deals were reported at INR 28,400-500/t on FoR basis.

Pellet sponge (P-DRI) price in Raipur have decreased by around INR 1,000/t w-o-w to INR 28,500/t exw today. On a daily basis also, prices have moved down by around INR 300/t.

Indian pellet market overview-:

India pellet prices are offered across the regions exhibited mixed response in this publishing window. Pellet trades remained limited owing to lock-down persisting in almost every region.

However, Western India-based - Jindal SAW Ltd has increased its pellet offer by INR 500/t w-o-w. The current offer for Fe 63% grade pellets stands at INR 15,700/t DAP Kandla.

Rationale - PELLEX has been derived using data points: i.e., trades, offers and bid. You can download the detailed methodology by clicking on this link Click here

• Single deal reported in this publishing window and considered in the index calculation and kept the weightage 50% weightage.
  
  
• Eight firm offers and bids were reported and out of those five bids and offers from Raipur and three offers from outside Raipur. Four were taken for price calculation and given a weightage of 50%.
  
  

Region-wise pellet offers and deals: