Ex-India pellet prices staged a small recovery after touching a four-year low in earlier weeks but no trades were reported as prices were still too low for sellers and buyers representing mills in China still absent indicating persistent weak demand, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Friday.
Sources said that ex-India pellet price gained $4/mt at $96-102/mt CFR China but sellers continued to remain out of the market claiming that the price needed to move up by another $15-20/mt to be at par with domestic sales realisations.
They said that despite the rise in ex-India price, it still entailed a negative margin from overseas sales compared to domestic realisations.
“The recovery in price is only on paper as no deals were concluded. Sellers will lose money in deals at current levels. At the other end there are no buyers as demand in China remain weak,” a member of Pellet Manufacturers’ Association of India (PMAI) said.
“ Meanwhile there is strong demand for pellets from local mills. Hence producers are now willing to sell overseas. There may be some export forced deals in the coming weeks as some producers are having large stocks at port yards and incurring carrying costs and would be keen to liquidate even if the price gains slightly,” he said.