Ex-India pellet prices have remained stable in the past week with no activity reported in the market as Chinese buyers have showed no interest in restocking, while sellers have stayed away finding the current prices unviable, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Friday, June 27.
Sources said that ex-India billet prices have stable in the range of $98-100/mt CFR China, but buyers have not even been submitting low bids and sellers have been focusing on diverting port stocks to local mills in the hinterland.
The sources said that with merchant miners, particularly in Odisha, increasing prices of fines, pellet producers have been pulling out of exports as it is difficult to pass on higher costs of production.
At the same time, local sales have continued to offer better margins with realisations at least INR 1,900/mt ($22/mt) higher that overseas sales, on ex-plant basis, the sources said.
“We have not heard of even one confirmed bid received in the market. We do not see any improvement in the standstill market going forward. We are not even offering a quote,” a member of the Pellet Manufacturers’ Association of India (PMAI) said.
“Unless there is an extremely strong rebound in prices, the possibility of which is remote, we do not see exports resuming in the short term,” he added.