Weekly: Indian steel market snapshot

Indian spot steel prices have noticed a downtrend in the week 37. Prices of semi-finished & finished long steel remained weak & fell by INR 100-700/t in most of the region.

However in the finished flat steel market, domestic CRC prices increased sharply on tight supply and robust demand.

Inline imported scrap offers to India remained firm over the week with limited trades.

Iron ore & pellets

• SAIL conducted an auction for 28,000 t iron ore fines (Fe 60%) from its Dalli Rajhara mines in Chhattisgarh. The auction received good response with entire quantity receiving bids at INR 3,520/t (loaded into rakes and including royalty), SteelMint learned from its sources.
  
  
• Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) has commenced production at Tiring Pahar mines in Barbil, Odisha. The mine has an EC limit of 0.328 mn t pa and expects production of about 0.2 to 0.23 mn t for this year.
  
  
• SteelMint's domestic pellet index "PELLEX" increased by INR 400/t on Friday (11 Sept'20) to INR 9,100/t DAP Raipur, trades improved this week.
  
  
• SteelMint's pellet export index (FoB east coast India) has increased sharply by $6/t w-o-w to $121/t. Prices increased due to limited offers from India and increasing spot iron ore fines prices.
  
  

Coal

Average spot prices for Australian premium low-volatile (PLV) hard coking coal (HCC) have increased by $7-12/t during this week, with a decent number of bookings concluded on both FOB and CNF basis.

• Despite the ongoing import quota limitations and port-related concerns, delivered spot prices to China witnessed a sharp single-day rise of $5.25/t yesterday.
  Indian demand for seaborne coking coal is gradually making a comeback which would help support FOB trade prices across grades.
  
  
• Latest offers for the Premium HCC grade are assessed at around $118.00/t FOB Australia, $130.75/t CNF China and $130.65/t CNF India.
  
  

Ferrous Scrap

Imported scrap offers to India have remained firm over a week, however, trades have remained slow after decent bookings concluded last week. While global suppliers continue to hold offers firm, recent decline in sponge & billet prices seen this week have turned market sentiments bearish in India.

• SteelMint's assessment for shredded scrap in containers stands at $325/t CFR Nhava Sheva. Suppliers have quoted the offers at around $325-330/t CFR levels, while few trades were reported this week.
  
  
• Chennai based steel mills booked 2,000 t of HMS from Europe in containers at $305/t CFR level. While few deals were also concluded for UK origin HMS 1&2 (80:20) at around $295-300/t CFR level in Ludhiana.
  
  

Ferro Alloys

• Indian Silico Manganese prices have come under pressure due to dull demand and weaker export realization. Prices in Central India dropped by INR 1,000/t to INR 61,000-61,500/t exw Raipur.
  
  
• Ferro Manganese prices remained under pressure and recorded a fall of INR 500-1,000/t to 62,000/t exw Raipur & INR 62,500/t exw Durgapur.
  
  
• Ferro Chrome prices escalated amid severe supply crunch. Ferro chrome prices are at around INR 73,000/t exw Odisha and expected to rise further.
  
  
• Ferro Silicon prices are unchanged w-o-w at INR 82,000/t exw Bhutan and INR 84,000/t exw Guwahati. Production remains limited and prices are holding firm.
  
  

Semi Finished

This week, Indian semi finished steel market observed less than average demand as billet offers plunged in the range of INR 100-600/t, while sponge iron offers dropped by INR 200-500/t.

• Induction grade billet export offers dropped by $6-8/t this week with fresh offers of around $405-407/t exw Durgapur, equivalent to $430-432/t CPT Nepal, via road delivery.
  
  
• Indian sponge iron (80 FeM, 100% lumps) export offers stable at $305/t CPT Benapole, equivalent to $325/t CFR Chittagong, Bangladesh, as per weekly assessment following volatility in domestic offers on subdued demand.
  
  
• SAIL conducted an auction for 2,800 t off-grade (basic) pig iron on 11th Sep from its IISCO Steel Plant (ISP) West Bengal & the entire material got booked at INR 28,050/t exw.
  
  
• Vizag Steel has floated an export tender of 30,000 t blooms (150*150 mm) on 9th Sep for spot sale. The shipment is likely to be scheduled by 31st Oct.
  
  
• Pig iron prices dropped by INR 100-400/t, w-o-w, on improved supply and slight price corrections in sponge iron.
  
  

Finished Long

India's finished long steel market remain volatile in this week and in most of the location prices fluctuated by INR 200-400/t through medium and small scale mills, however due to limited end user demand and heavy stock in mills the rebar producers of western region have fallen down their offer upto INR 500/t.

• Trade reference rebar prices (12-25 mm) through midsized mills assessed at INR 32,700-32,900/t exw Raipur, INR 33,600-34,000/t exw Jalna.
  
  
• Trade discount given by Raipur based heavy structure manufacturers is at INR 800-1,100/t and the trade price of 200 Angle is at INR 36,300-36,700/t exw.
  
  
• Mid scale mills wire rod export offers fell to around $445-447/t exw Durgapur, equivalent to $470-473/t CPT Nepal.
  
  
• Trade discounts in Raipur wire rod are currently at INR 1,300-1,500/t and trade reference prices stood at INR 32,800-33,300/t exw Raipur and Durgapur, size 5.5 mm.
  
  

Finished Flat

Domestic CRC prices have witnessed a steep hike of upto INR 3,000/t ($41) due to supply shortage & increased demand from the auto segment. In western and southern India prices have risen by INR 1,500-2,000/t & by INR 2,500-3,000/t in northern India, w-o-w.

• Price assessments for CRC (0.9 mm IS513 GR) stands at INR 47,500-49,000/t exw Mumbai, INR 50,000-50,500/t exw Delhi & INR 48,000-48,500/t exw Chennai.
  
  
• Meanwhile, the price assessment of HRC (IS 2062, 2.5 - 8 mm) stood at INR 41,000-42,000/t exw Mumbai, INR 41,000-42,000/t exw Delhi & INR 41,500-42,250/t exw Chennai. The prices mentioned above do not include 18% GST.
  
  
• JSW Steel has increased domestic CRC price by INR 1,250/t ($17) yesterday with fresh offers of around INR 48,250-48,500/t exy-Mumbai. This was the 2nd price hike by company in Sep'20 on strong demand from the auto & white-goods sector. Also, the producer is expected to further hike HRC price by INR 1,000/t from Monday.
  
  

Reference Prices as on 12th Sep'20 (Week 37)

Prices are Exw & exclusive of GST

Indian export reference prices as on 12th Sep'20Prices in USD/MT
Source: SteelMint Research