Local Indian pig iron prices have remained unchanged at the level of INR 18,000/mt ($292/mt) ex-works in the past week, amid sluggish demand and low buying interest, traders said on Wednesday, January 15.
According to a Kolkata-based trader, some pig iron markets in eastern and southern India have witnessed discounts of up to INR 200/mt ($3/mt) since foundries in these regions have been finding it difficult to operate at full capacity owing to high energy costs and low demand for casting.
However, the volumes of transactions in eastern and southern India did not improve in line with the discount offers from traders, the trader added.
Sources said that buyers have been reluctant to conclude bookings in January, for which most producers had announced that their base pig iron prices would be kept unchanged. But in absence of any reports of export tenders pending from producers, buyers are expecting a minor downward price adjustment by producers in February-March, the sources said.
The continued lack of export orders for Indian producers is expected to prompt the domestic producers to reduce prices by about $6/mt to be able to push excess volumes into local Indian markets, the sources said.