Ex-India pellet prices remained stable during the past week amid continuing inactive market conditions with buyers still placing low bids while sellers focusing on better realizations from local sales, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Friday, March 21.
Sources said that ex-India pellet prices were maintained in range of $108-109/mt CFR China but with bids at $98-104/mt CFR, transactions failed to materialize.
According to sources, sellers continued to decline low bids and are unwilling to make any price adjustments to push sales overseas considering that local sales realizations continued to improve and around INR 1,900/mt ($22/mt) higher than exports, on ex-plant basis.
“Chinese steel mills are facing a very strong challenge in improving margins from finished steel prices. With margins under pressure, mills are not looking at higher grade raw materials like pellets. Bids below the $100/mt CFR mark are completely unrealistic,” a member of Pellet Manufacturers’ Association of India (PMAI) said.
“In the local market, pellet producers are diverting material from port stockyards to complete supplies deeper in hinterland with robust demand from domestic steel mills. We do not see much change in the inactive market conditions going forward,” he added.