India: Neelachal Ispat Rolls Over Pig Iron Prices

Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL) - India’s largest and state-owned steel grade pig iron manufacturer & exporter has rolled-over steel grade pig iron prices today.

Prior to this the company had reduced offers by INR 500/MT (USD 7) on 23rd Mar'19.

As per company's price circular, the latest offers for Steel (N1) grade are similar to last one at INR 26,650/MT (USD 386), ex-plant, Cuttack, Odisha. Also the trade discount on bulk purchase is unaltered and available in the range of INR 100-400/MT.

SteelMint earlier in the news reported that chances for hike in NINL Pig iron prices are limited as there was average response in the last offers and also due to competitive prices offered from other private mills.

The private pig iron producers in neighbouring markets are offering steel grade Pig iron at INR 26,200-26,300/MT ex-Jajpur(Odisha), INR 27,500-27,700/MT ex-Durgapur, INR 27,200-27,400/MT ex-plant - Jharkhand & INR 27,400-27,500/MT FoR Raipur/Raigarh, Central India.

However participants are believe that, NINL may receive weak response in recent price circular as the steel demand is not supported and has lead to fall in prices. Also, supply from private producers is quite strong which may weigh down fresh bookings of NINL.

In its last floated export tender for 30,000 MT pig iron, company received highest bid at around USD 360/MT, FoB, but as the company was eyeing for high prices it cancelled the tender and has floated fresh tender of same quantity.

NINL's production boost in FY19

Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL) has witnessed 111% surge in its hot metal output for the last financial year ended March 31, 2019 (FY19).

The company's hot metal production of 0.76 MnT is the best since its plant at Duburi in Odisha’s Kalinganagar Industrial Complex commenced commercial operations.

Pig iron production grew by 83.2% to 0.33 MnT, the steel mill's second-best since the date of starting commercial operations. Sinter output, too, witnessed a robust spike of 91.1% to reach 1.18 MnT.

NINL accomplished long steel and billets production of 76,866 MT and 68,081 MT, respectively in FY19.