India Steel Market Watch
October 1: Ferro alloy offers declined on low procurement by the end-user industries, sources informed ISMW.
Offers for ferro vanadium, silico manganese, ferro manganese, ferro moly and ferro chrome declined on low procurement. Ferro silicon and chrome ore priices remained firm.
Ferro silicon: Ferro silicon prices rose on some amount of procurement by end-users, sources said.
In the north-east, prices hovered around Rs 65,400 per ton in Guwahati.
There was no significant change in trading activity in the market with the overall demand scenario recovering marginally.
Sources said the ferro silicon market has been impacted by cheap supplies from Malaysia, which works under cheap power costs. Power constitutes around 60% of the total production cost in ferro silicon production.
Market sources reported that low demand has led to stable offer prices and some procurement may happen going forward resulting in an uptrend in prices.
The export market witnessed moderate demand from European buyers. Ferro silicon is being offered at around US$ 1,100 per ton FOB Kolkata.
Silicon manganese: Silico manganese prices fell by Rs 400 per ton on lack of procurement by steel mills, industry sources said.
Prices in Rourkela stood at around Rs 45,500 per ton owing to lack of activity at the user-end.
The export market remained unchanged at around $675-735 per ton FOB east coast owing to low demand in the international market. In the export market, Indian players have cut their offers to carry out more trading activity, as a stronger dollar boosts sales in rupee terms.
Indian producers reported that there were inquiries from the Middle East, South-East Asia and Latin American countries but very few confirmed deals.
Ferro manganese: Ferro manganese prices fell by Rs 1000 per ton on lack of restocking by stainless steel-makers, industry sources said.
Ferro manganese prices in Raipur are quoted at around Rs 44,800 per ton.
In the export market, ferro manganese 70% was quoted at $725-790 per ton FOB as against the same price in the previous week as low demand conditions prevailed. There are lesser enquiries from the international markets, sources said.
Sources said prices had been stable as production levels are low on the back of weak demand.
There is lack of big tenders in the ferro manganese market and the producers have cut down their production levels.
HC ferro chrome: HC ferro chrome prices fell by Rs 200 per ton on low trading activity in the market, industry sources said.
HC ferro chrome prices were quoted at Rs 62,600 per ton in the Indian market.
Stainless steel plants were not in a hurry to replenish ferro chrome stocks as stainless steel flat prices remained low.
Prices are down as few producers are sitting on huge inventory and are clamouring to offload stocks, fearing that the price decline could intensify.
Market sources reported of low trading appetite, as most buyers are expressing a strong preference to stay out of the market.
India mainly exports its products to China, Japan and South Korea, the stainless steel production hub of Asia.
Manganese ore and chrome ore: Prices of manganese ore remained unchanged after easing on low buying support.
Manganese Ore India (MOIL), the country’s largest and government-owned manganese ore company, has cut manganese ore prices by 3-12% across various grades for the second quarter (Q2).
Prices have been cut because of falling manganese alloy prices in the Indian and global markets. Earlier, MOIL had cut prices by 25%, sources said.
Prices of all ferro grades of ore have been reduced by 3-7%, sources said.
Prices of silico grade have been reduced by 12.5% while those of manganese ore fines have been reduced by 5% from the previous quarter’s prices.
MOIL has an annual production capacity of 11.5 lakh tons.
Weak buying interest and higher mining costs during the rainy season have led to the bearish trends in the market.
The current offer for grade 30% is Rs 4,700 per ton and for grade 48-50% is Rs 9,600 per ton, inclusive of royalty.
Chrome ore prices rose marginally by Rs 100 per ton on some procurement by end-users.
The last chrome ore e-auction led to reduction in prices of all grades of the product. OMC had to cancel allocation of chrome ore concentrate for auction owing to low prices.
Following are ferro alloy prices in different markets:
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Ferro Alloys |
Unit |
Size |
Market |
Price (October 1, 2015) |
Price (September 18, 2015) |
W-O-W |
Ferro Silicon |
Rs/Ton ex-works |
70-75% |
Guwahati |
65400 |
65300 |
100 |
Ferro Vanadium |
Rs/kg ex-works |
50% |
|
580 |
625 |
-45 |
Silicon Manganese |
Rs/Ton ex-works |
60-14 |
Rourkela |
45500 |
45900 |
-400 |
HC Ferro Manganese |
Rs/Ton ex-works |
70% |
Raipur |
44800 |
45800 |
-1000 |
Ferro Moly |
Rs/kg ex-works |
60% |
|
648 |
660 |
-12 |
HC Ferro Chrome |
Rs/Ton ex-works |
60% |
Jajpur |
62600 |
62800 |
-200 |
Manganese Ore |
Rs/Ton ex-works |
37.5% lumps |
Balaghat |
6700 |
6700 |
0 |
Chrome Ore |
Rs/Ton ex-works |
52-54% |
Barbil |
12700 |
12600 |
100 |
Source: Traders