Indian iron ore pellet export offers have remained stable during the past week but very few transactions were reported with buyers staying away from making fresh bookings on higher availability of high grade lumps at competitive prices, traders said on Friday, September 13.
“The expected shift to pellets from fines in anticipation of winter pollution control measures in China is not gaining momentum as expected. Buyers are hence did not respond to Indian offers during the past week,” a member of Pellet Manufacturers’ Association of India (PMAI) said.
“Lump prices in China continued to seek lower levels and improved volume availability kept interest in Indian pellets muted,” he added.
Sources said that domestic pellet producers were focusing on domestic sales where they were getting a good price averaging in the range of $110-111/mt ex-works, almost comparable with export realizations. Also there have been reports that some global resource majors were offering discounts at around $6/mt on pellet shipments to China which could not be matched by Indian exporters.
According to market sources most leading Indian pellet producers have kept their offers unchanged but no significant bookings were reported in the market.
The sources said that Odisha-based Brahmani River Pellets Limited (BRPL) has kept its offers stable over the past week at $110/mt CFR China, but no deals were concluded.
State-run Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited (KIOCL) has reportedly submitted offers at around $109/mt CFR China but of lower grade with alumina content 2 percent and above but failed to conclude any bookings, the sources added.