Local Indian pig iron prices have declined by INR 200/mt ($3/mt) in select regions of the country to around INR 16,500/mt ($269/mt) ex-works under renewed pressure from the poor response to export tenders, traders said on Wednesday, January 28.
According to a Kolkata-based trader, while pig iron prices have remained unchanged in western and southern regions in the range of INR 16,700-17,000/mt ($272-277/mt), the downward movement has been particularly sharp in central India, one of the largest consuming markets in the country.
Sentiment has been impacted by reports of Indian pig iron exports not receiving viable bids from overseas buyers and market apprehensions of an increase in domestic supplies from large domestic producers and further pressures on prices, the trader said.
Market sources said that an export tender for 30,000 mt from Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) has evoked just one bid from a single buyer and the tender has been cancelled as the offer was not considered viable for the producer.
The sources said that buyers of steel grade pig iron in central India, where there is a large number of billet and long product producers, stayed away from concluding fresh transactions in view of falling prices of billets and they were reducing capacity utilization levels and hence inventories too.
$1 = INR 61.40