On August 17, SteelOrbis reported Indian pellet export offers were being supported in the export market by active deals along with strength in the Indian domestic pellet market. Prices were reportedly up at $127-130/mt FOB Indian port.
Sources report that over the past month prices showed a strong upward trend and are now being heard at $140-146/mt FOB Indian port on August 20. Prices increased $13/mt from the bottom of the previous range and $16/mt from the top of the same range. The robust increase over the past few days is attributed to China’s announcement of further production cuts of various raw materials as well as at high polluting manufacturing sites. Additionally, China officially announced the launch of further environmental inspections from the central agencies for enforcement in the past few days.