Indian iron ore pellet export offers have continued to seek lower levels showing large variations across exporters. The number of transactions reported during the past week has improved slightly even as large Chinese steel mills have continued their shift towards high grade lumps, traders said on Friday, August 30.
According to market sources, Indian iron ore pellet export offers have showed a wide range of $105-111/mt CFR China, compared to a range of $112-115/mt CFR China in the previous week.
Market sources said Brahmani River Pellets Limited (BRPL), located in the eastern state of Odisha was able to conclude two contracts at $109/mt and $111/mt CFR China. Both contracts were for iron ore pellets with Fe content of 63.5 percent and above and with alumina content below three percent.
Two other Odisha-based pellet producers also concluded export contracts at $105/mt CFR China and $108/mt CFR China, although market sources said that these cargoes were with slightly higher alumina content (above 3%).
The sources said that smaller pellet producers around Raipur in central India have lowered offers by INR 200/mt ($2.8/mt), but few of the producers in this region have been able to conclude contracts. “With offers expected to trend towards the $100/mt mark in central India in reaction to the continued shift by Chinese steel mills toward high grade iron ore lumps, smaller pellet producers have become bearish on exports and most transactions during the past week have been reported by large pellet producers in the east,” a member of the Pellet Manufacturers’ Association of India (PMAI) said.
“With export offers steadily seeking lower levels, smaller pellet producers have been focusing on domestic sales at prices in the range of $98-100/mt as most terms of supply are on cash-on-delivery basis and they have been able to avoid scouting for export credit from banks,” the PMAI official added.