Weekly: Indian steel market snapshot

Indian secondary steel prices remained on downtrend during the week-25 due to limited inquiries and improved supply. Also, the lifting of finished steel products remained slow.

As per SteelMint assessment, this week prices of semi finished steel products of mid sized mills have declined by INR 600-1,800/t ($7-16) & finished long by INR 1,000-2,000/t ($13-27).

IRON ORE & PELLETS

Essel mining has increased its iron ore fines offer by INR 100/t w.e.f 16th Jun. In Badampahar iron ore block auction, 29 companies have participated for mines lease including Rungta Sons, Yazdani, Kashvi Power, Super Smelter, Vedanta Ltd, Triveni Ignicon (P) Ltd, S.D Formento, etc.

-- PELLEX moved down by INR 150/t to INR 5,900/wmt (DAP Raipur) this week amid limited inquiries & a fall in pellet export prices. However, no deal has been concluded in this week.

-- Jamshedpur based pellet maker's decreased offers by INR 300/t to INR 5,500-5,600/t (Ex-plant) today. Durgapur pellet price assessment falls to INR 5,900-6,100/t (Ex-plant) on limited inquiries.

-- A Central India based pellet maker has concluded a pellet export deal for Fe 64% grade pellets with 3% Al in this week to China at around $111/t, CFR. In another deal, a southern India based pellet maker- KIOCL has also concluded a pellet export deal (Fe 64% grade pellets less than 2% Al) at $107/t, FOB.

COAL

Indian spot demand for seaborne coking coal continues to remain subdued, as downstream demand for steel has been slow despite gradual resumption of infrastructure activities following the graded opening up of lockdown restrictions. Demand from Indian steel mills for seaborne coking coal would recover after the monsoon season ends in late September at the earliest, according to market sources.

-- Latest offers for the Premium HCC grade are assessed at around $112.25/t FOB Australia, $120.50/t CNF China & $123.90/t CNF India.

FERROUS SCRAP

-- SteelMint's assessment for Shredded scrap from Europe & North America stand at $282-285/t CFR Nhava Sheva, down by at least $5-6/t in comparison to last week.

-- In the South region, few Tamil Nadu buyers concluded HMS 1&2 (80:20) deals at around, $260-262/t CFR from Australian origin, with a Chennai based mill concluding 800 t at these price levels this week. Trade sources confided that offers to Chennai are around $260-263/t CFR levels. Few deals of LMS bundles to Chennai buyers were concluded at around $243/t CFR basis.

-- HMS 1&2 (80:20) offers to Nhava Sheva from UK origins, are currently being offered at around $255/t levels, while few suppliers are even ready to conclude at $252-253/t level. HMS 1&2 (80:20) from West Africa stood at around $243-245/t CFR Nhava Sheva, & around $250/t CFR Goa.

FERRO ALLOYS

-- Silico-manganese prices fell marginally in the domestic market, meanwhile had a sharp fall in the export market on currency fluctuations.

-- Ferro-manganese prices remained stable despite dull demand & reduced Manganese ore prices.

-- Prices of ferro-chrome prices fell owing to dull demand in the domestic & export market.

-- Indian ferro-silicon prices fell in line with the availability of lower-cost higher graded imported material at the Indian ports.

SEMI FINISHED

This week, Indian Semi finished steel market observed less than average demand as Billet offers plunged in the range of INR 800-1,800/t ($10-24). Sponge iron offers dropped by INR 600-1,200/t ($7-16)& majorly in Central India - Raipur & Raigarh by INR 800-1,200/t ($10-16) w-o-w.

-- Indian sponge C-DRI (80 FeM, 100% lumps) export offers dropped by $15/t to $235/t CPT Benapole, equivalent to $255-260/t CFR Chittagong, Bangladesh. About 2,000-3,000t deals reported this week on revised offers.

-- The mid scale mills export offers drop sharply by $20/t w-o-w & assessed at $375-378/t for billet & $440/t for wire rod, CPT Nepal, via road delivery.

-- Steel grade pig iron prices down by INR 500-600/t in north & south regions, while in central & eastern India it fell sharply by INR 700-900/t, w-o-w. Drop in billet prices along with improved availability has resulted in price corrections in pig iron.

-- A government-owned mill had floated an export tender for 30,000 t billets (150*150 mm, 3sp/4sp), the deal was reportedly concluded at $380-385/t FoB for mid-Jul '20 shipment.

-- SAIL has floated an auction for around 8,550t off grade pig iron on 24 Jun'20 from its Bokaro Steel Plant, Jharkhand.

-- Steel Authority of India Ltd. - a government of India company has floated an auction for around 3,800t off grade pig iron on 24 Jun'20 from its IISCO steel plant, West Bengal

-- Jindal Steel offered steel grade pig iron at around INR 24,000/MT EXW, Raigarh.

-- SAIL's basic grade pig iron auction from Rourkela Steel Plant has received good response today as alotted quantity of 4,000t got booked at INR 22,50-700/t EXW.

-- RINL is inviting the bids for the export tender of 30,000 t blooms (3SP/4SP) against 100% advance payment terms. The tender due date is 22 Jun'20.

-- SAIL is to auction 500t OG grade pig iron on 22 Jun'20 from its Central marketing office (CMO), Kolkata, West Bengal.

FINISHED LONG

Indian finish long steel market remains subdued through medium/small scale mills owing to lack of future bookings & mounting stock where weekly price range drifted down by INR 1,000-2,000/t in most of the regions except Southern region.

Major rebar supplying regions like Central (Raipur & Raigarh) & Western (Jalna) market offering average trade discounts of around INR 300-400/t.

-- The trade reference rebar prices (12-25 mm) through midsized mills assessed at INR 31,000-31,400/t Ex Raipur, INR 32,300-32,600/t Ex-Jalna & INR 35,400-35,800/t Ex Chennai.

-- Trade discount by Raipur based heavy structure manufacturers is at INR 500-800/t & trade price of 200 Angle is at INR 33,700-34,100/t ex-works.

-- Trade discounts in Raipur wire rod are currently hovering at INR 800-1,000/t & trade reference prices stood at INR 29,600-30,000/t ex-Raipur & INR 31,400-31,600/t ex-Durgapur, size 5.5 mm.

-- Bokaro, Jharkhand based a primary mill offered wire rod (SAE 1008, size 5.5 mm) at around INR 34,500/t EXW. The price dropped almost by INR 500/t against the beginning of Jun'20.

FINISHED FLAT

Limited trades in the domestic market, improved supplies & liquidity issues are some of the key reasons which have continued to weigh down domestic price sentiments.

SteelMint's assessment for HRC (IS 2062, 2.5 - 8 mm) for trade segment stands at INR 35,500-36,000/t Ex-Mumbai, INR 35,800-36,500/t Ex-Delhi & INR 37,500-38,000/t Ex-Chennai. Meanwhile, CRC (0.9 mm IS513 GR) prices are assessed at INR 41,000-42,000/t Ex- Mumbai, INR 41,500-42,500/t Ex- Chennai & INR 40,300- 41,800/t Ex-Delhi. The prices mentioned above are basic, & extra GST @18% is applicable.

"Domestic market continues to remain flat this week. Active trades are not happening in the market. Only 30-35% of trades are happening in HRC & only 20% of trades in CRC" ,shared by a major Mumbai based HRC distributor.

Reference Prices as on 20th June 2020 (Week 25)

Prices are Ex-works, Exclusive of GST at 18%

Indian Export Reference Prices as on 20th Jun'20

Prices in USD/MT
Source: SteelMint Research