Indian Sponge Iron Export Prices Fall in Recent Deals

Amid falling Indian domestic sponge prices & decline in Bangladesh imported scrap prices, Indian sponge iron export offers have come down by USD 10-15/MT in recent deals reported, as per assessment made by SteelMint.

As per assessment, in a week's time sponge iron prices in Indian domestic market slumped by INR 500-800/MT (USD 7-11) due to which export offers have also moved down. Also as per exporters as the finished steel demand not up-to the mark in Bangladesh, the buyers are looking raw materials at lower offers.

The latest export deals for Indian Sponge iron (78-80 FeM, lumps) have reported at around USD 295/MT CPT Benapole (dry port of India & Bangladesh), this is equivalent to USD 310-315/MT CNF Chittagong, Bangladesh. The export deal size for sponge iron have been assessed at around 3,000-5,000 MT.

In line imported scrap offers to Bangladesh fell by USD 8-10/M in a week and currently evaluated for containerised Shredded grade at around USD 338-340/MT, CNF Chittagong of US, Europe origin.

It also learned that, the domestic trade activities in Bangladesh yet to resume full-fledged manner which was limited since a month duration due to Ramadan celebration. As per last assessment the trade reference rebar prices in domestic market of Bangladesh fell by about BDT 500/MT (USD 6). Thus this has limited demand for raw materials too.

Participants believe that, Indian Sponge iron export offers less likely to fall sharply with an assumption of stability in domestic prices due to high cost raw materials (Iron ore & Pellet) amid surge in global prices.

The Indian domestic Sponge iron (78-80 FeM, C-DRI) prices are hovering at INR 18,200-18,400/MT (USD 262-265) ex-Durgapur, INR 17,800-18,000/MT (USD 256-259) ex-Rourkela (Eastern India), INR 18,100-18,300/MT (USD 260-263) ex-Raipur (Central India) & INR 18,000-18,200/MT (USD 259-262) ex-Bellary in Southern India.