Over the past week, prices in the local Indian pig iron market have increased by INR 1,400/mt to INR 29,400/mt ($452/mt) ex-works, as producers commenced hiking prices for current month deliveries, with buyers rushing to make fresh bookings, traders said on Wednesday, April 11.
“The downturn in the pig iron market seen early this month has proved to be short-lived. Producers are seen to be defying the easing of the supply-side tightness to hike their prices for April,” a Kolkata-based trader said.
Market sources said that private sector producers have started announcing higher prices this week and large government-owned producers like Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited, and Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) will follow suit by end of this week.
The sources said that Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited is expected to announce a higher pig iron base price as soon as it resumes production over the next few days after the maintenance shutdown of its blast furnace since the last few months.
The sources said that the market has been caught by surprise by the sudden reversal of the downtrend even though supplies are expected to rise in the short term, while no new export tenders have been reported over the past week. They also said that trading volumes and activity have been boosted by anticipations in the market that pig iron prices may once again touch the INR 30,000/mt mark in the short term.
$1 = INR 65.17