Indian domestic pig iron prices have stagnated at the lower level of INR 22,500/mt ($411/mt) ex-works amid lackluster demand from foundries and continued oversupply in the market, traders said on Monday, April 8.
According to traders in Kolkata, pig iron demand from foundries has showed no significant change over the past week with several units around Andhra Pradesh in southern India and Chhattisgarh in the central region of the country suffering from severe shortages of power supply, which forced them to reduce capacity utilization and hence procurement of pig iron.
A foundry operator in the eastern Indian province of West Bengal said that major pig iron producers have not corrected their April prices despite low demand, citing the high cost of iron ore. But foundries are not in a position to absorb the current price of pig iron, considering very weak demand for castings and forgings particularly from the auto and engineering sectors.