After four consecutive weeks of continued increase, the local Indian pig iron market has taken a break during the past week with prices decreasing by INR 300/mt ($4.5/mt) week on week to INR 20,700/mt ($310/mt) ex-works, amid high stocks at the dealers’ end, traders said on Wednesday, October 12.
“After a month-long of gains, the market is rife for a correction. Dealers are clearly over-stocked and prefer to wait a while even amid reports of producers considering another price hike for the current month,” a Kolkata-based trader said.
“With sufficient stocks, dealers are also not in rush to make fresh bookings to beat the revision in base prices by producers,” the trader added.
However, at least two other traders said that the correction is not expected to persist and that local pig iron prices have an upside potential of around INR 500-1,000/mt ($7.5-14/mt) from current levels, while any entire increase in base price will be passed on by dealers to consumers as demand continues to be strong and the market absorbs higher prices.
$1 = INR 66,79