Local Indian
pig iron prices have hardly changed during the past week, remaining at INR 18,000/mt ($291/mt) ex-works although discounts have increased to around INR 400/mt ($6/mt), traders said on Wednesday, January 22.
According to a Kolkata-based trader, with no large export orders emerging for domestic
pig iron producers, buyers have been postponing bookings anticipating that producers will be forced to cut prices in February in response to increased supplies in the domestic market.
At the same time, local traders have increased discount offers during the past week to INR 400/mt and across all domestic markets, higher than the INR 200-300/mt ($3-5/mt) prevalent earlier in select markets in eastern and southern
India, the trader said.
Market sources stated that large Indian
pig iron producers have been unable to push shipments to overseas markets largely due to their lack of cost competitiveness compared to Chinese
pig iron exporters owing to higher Indian energy and raw material costs.
$1 = INR 61.83