Indian producers of basic pig iron (BPI) have continued to face challenges in securing orders in export destinations, while in negotiations with local customers suppliers are still forced to give discounts. In particular, a tender for 33,000 mt of BPI, which was re-floated by major Indian steel company Vedanta Limited in the middle of December after the failure to find a buyer the first time at the end of November, remains inconclusive. As SteelOrbis has reported earlier, the mill has been targeting a price level of $445/mt FOB, down $5/mt from the initial targets. “It is quite quiet for BPI. That said, it looks like some Indians are in market for imports, albeit at low levels,” a major international trader stated. The target price of a supplier remains beyond the workable levels for potential customers in the US. Specifically, while the mill may search for $500/mt CFR, considering the freight rate, last week a US steelmaker was unlikely to accept any prices above $450/mt CFR Port of New Orleans. However, with Brazilian BPI suppliers having increased their offers, the success of US buyers to get their desired price is doubtful.
Meanwhile, BPI prices in the domestic market in the eastern region of India have declined by INR 500/mt ($6/mt) within the past two weeks to INR 40,500/mt ($490/mt), while in the western regions BPI offers have decreased to INR 38,000-39,000/mt ($459-471/mt) ex-works, down INR 1,000-2,000/mt ($12-24/mt) during the same period. “Mills which were previously producing pig iron are now focusing on flat products as demand is good here and they have got exports too. Hence, mills are hesitating to be aggressive in pig iron sales,” an Indian trader stated. Last week, Indian producer SAIL’s IISCO Steel Plant in Burnpur sold a lot of 150 mt of BPI at INR 39,100/mt ($472/mt) ex-works, down around INR 800-1,000/mt ($10-12/mt) compared to the results in the previous tender which was closed in late November.
$1 = INR 82.7555