Ex-India pellet prices have inched up over the past week but not sufficiently for sellers to shift their focus from remunerative local sales, while post-holiday restocking by buyers from China has remained below expectations and price-sensitive, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Friday, March 6.
Sources said that ex-India pellet prices are up slightly by around $1/mt to the range of $109-112/mt CFR China with the higher end of the range applicable for high grades with silica-alumina content less than three percent.
However, the expected rise in buying activity after the holiday in China has failed to materialize, with few buyers active and submitting low bids not more than $100-105/mt CFR, with sellers remaining uninterested in diverting local sales volumes for overseas sale, the sources said.
It was pointed out that domestic pellet sales prices have increased by INR 200/mt ($2/mt), further widening the gap between export realizations and local margins by around $17-18/mt on ex-plant basis.
“Expectations of revived restocking by mills in China have been belied. Buyers are very price-sensitive and sellers are unwilling to adjust to low bids as local demand remains robust. Large producers will continue to maintain low port stocks as they move bulk volumes inland to serve domestic mills,” a member of the Pellet Manufacturers’ Association of India (PMAI) said.