Local Indian
pig iron prices have slipped by INR 1,000/mt ($18/mt) in the past week to INR 22,500/mt ($416/mt) ex-works, with low demand forcing traders to offer heavy discounts to keep inventories moving, traders said on Monday, May 6.
"The
pig iron markets have been completely in the bearish grip of persistent slack demand. The main producers are keeping their base
pig iron price unchanged, but both producers and traders are implementing aggressive discounts to keep volumes moving," a Kolkata-based trader said.
"But high discounts have failed to trigger volume bookings because orders with foundries are very low and most foundries have cut down their capacity utilization," the trader added.
Market sources have said that the domestic
pig iron market outlook is very dismal with the weakness of the market deepening since September-October 2012, and most producers are making operational losses from domestic sales of
pig iron and only small volume exports are enabling them to partially recover the high cost of local iron ore.
However, the market sources added that there are no reports in the market of any pending
pig iron export tenders by large producers.