SteelMint: PELLEX remains stable on unchanged offers, limited trade

SteelMint's bi-weekly domestic pellet (Fe 63%) index, PELLEX, stood at INR 8,100/tonne (t) DAP Raipur on 23 September, 2022 amid limited trade. Around 3,000 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.
  
  
• One deal was reported in this publishing window but not considered in this publishing window and hence calculation and accorded 0% weightage for T1 trade.
  
  
• Nine (09) firm offers, bids and indicative prices were reported. Six (06) were taken for price calculation and given another 100% weightage.
  
  
• SteelMint received two bids at INR 7,800-7,850/t FOR but these were not considered for calculation of the index.
  
  

Raipur-based pellet producers continue to keep the offers stable at INR 7,900-8,000/t ($100-101/t) exw today. Godawari Power and Ispat Ltd (Fe 63.5%) offered pellets at INR 8,300/t ($102/t) exw.

Buyers are still reluctant to buy pellets in bulk volumes and expecting a fall in sponge prices. Therefore, they are mostly opting to adopt a wait-and-watch mode. However, hike bids in NMDC DRCLO auction may allow for some changes in the buying pattern of steelmakers in the coming days.

NMDC conducted an iron ore auction from Chhattisgarh today for 184,800 t of Fe 64-67% (indicative) material from the Bacheli mines, and 92,400 t (Fe64-65.50%, indicative) ore from the Kirandul mines. The entire quantity of 16,800 t of DR-CLO was booked at a premium of INR 450/t over the set base price of INR 4,957/t (excluding royalty, DMF and NMET) at the auction.

SteelMint's price assessment for sponge P-DRI (FeM 80%) in Raipur was down by INR 700/t w-o-w to INR 31,800/t exw. However, the prices in Raipur remained stable for the day.

Region-wise pellet offers and deals: