Ex-India pellet prices showed a marginal recovery, but still no deals worked out over the past week following wide bid-offer gap and mills in China heard to be preferring iron ore lumps over premium grade raw material like pellets, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Friday, June 21.
Ex-India pellet price staged a marginal gain of $1/mt to the range of $111-113/mt CFR China and though there were no rumors of bids below the $100/mt CFR mark, unlike earlier week, bids received were still $5-8/mt lower leading to silent trade conditions.
According to market rumor, a large volume trade of 60,000 mt was supposedly concluded by an eastern region producer but neither the price nor destination were confirmed by either the seller or other market participants.
“Considering that local sales still offer about INR 1,600/mt ($19/mt) higher realization over export sales, on ex-plant basis, local producers are under no pressure to reduce price and sell overseas. Our assessment is that price improvement to levels of $120/mt CFR can only trigger exports,” a member of Pellet Manufacturers’ Association of India (PMAI) said.
“We hear that port side stocks in China are a shade below 7 million mt and this is sufficient to meet lower than usual demand from blast furnace operators and defer any immediate restocking through imports. It is a wait and watch situation for every market participant,” he said.