Ex-India pellet prices have continued to show divergent trends over the past week, with lower grade prices under pressure and lacking any interest from buyers, while higher grades have been attracting buying interest even at premiums, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Friday, July 3.
Ex-India pellet prices with high silica-alumina content have lost around $2/mt to the range of $110-113/mt CFR China. But this level mainly reflects buyers’ price ideas, sources have said, while most Indian exporters still voice offers at not below $115/mt CFR. As a result, regular grades have not attracted any interest and the market has remained almost silent in this segment.
In the higher grade segment for pellets with silica-alumina content less than three percent, the tradable levels have been quoted higher in the range of $115-118/mt CFR, and some deals for grades with silica-alumina content less than 1.5 percent attracted an even higher premium.
For example, an Odisha-based producer concluded a sale of 60,000 mt with silica-alumina content less than 1.5 percent at $123/mt CFR China, while another tonnage of 50,000 mt also of the same grade was sold by another seller at $124/mt CFR, the sources said. This is almost in line with bookings for these grades last week.
“The overall pellet export market remains weak for regular grades which are usually traded in a larger number of deals. Only a few Chinese buyers are selectively concluding deals for higher grades but this does not compensate for the overall lack of trades in the market. It is also a fact that the supplies of higher grades are very tight because during the monsoon season there are logistical challenges in sourcing the right grade of iron ore fines for conversion,” a member of the Pellet Manufacturers’ Association of India (PMAI) said.
