SteelMint: PELLEX rises by INR 250/t in recent deals

SteelMint's bi-weekly domestic pellet (Fe 63%) index, PELLEX, stood at INR 7,700/tonne (t) DAP Raipur on 24 June 2022, up by around INR 250/t compared to the last assessment on 21 June. Around 54,000 t of pellet (Fe 62/Fe63) deals were heard in this publishing window at around INR 7,600-7,950/t DAP Raipur.

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.
  
  
• Four deals were reported for 54,000 t and all were taken into consideration in this publishing window and hence accorded 50% weightage for T1 trade.
  
  
• Seven (07) firm offers, bids and indicative prices were reported. Around six (06) were taken for price calculation and given 50% weightage.
  
  
• SteelMint received one bid at around INR 7,450/tDAP Raipur, and was considered for calculation of the index.
  
  

Godawari Power and Ispat Ltd (GPIL) has resumed pellet offers for domestic buyers. Offers have been reduced by INR 500/t ($6/t) to INR 7,800/t exw ($100/t) from INR 8,300/t ($106/t) seen last in early-June. Meanwhile, offers from other Raipur-based pellet producers stood at INR 7,500/t ($96/t) exw.

Majority of sponge players are awaiting NMDC's iron ore price revision which is expected anytime soon.

On the other hand, Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) had scheduled an iron ore fines auction yesterday in which out of a total of 1.55 mnt, only 89,000 t (less than 6%) received bids. In the iron ore lumps auction, out of a total of 1.22 mnt put to auction only 77,000 t (6%) received bids.

Pellet-based DRI (P-DRI, FeM 80%) prices in Raipur stood at INR 32,000/t exw, range bound w-o-w. On a daily basis, sponge iron prices increased by around INR 100/t.

Indian pellets market overview:

India pellet offers across regions increased on the back of hike in OMC's base prices. However, limited deals were done on increased offers.

• Pellet prices in Odisha's Barbil remained stable throughout this week, as per SteelMint reports. The current assessment for iron ore pellets (Fe 63%) stands at INR 6,300/t loaded on to wagon. A bulk deal of around 300,000 t of pellets was done by an eastern India-based mill in the range of INR 5,900-6,300/t loaded to wagons.
  
  
• Iron ore pellet (Fe 63%) prices in Bellary, Karnataka increased by around INR 300/t to INR 8,750/t exw today on the back of raw material availability issue.
  
  

Region-wise pellet offers and deals: