Domestic ferrous scrap prices remained firm on Tuesday amid tight supply. Demand, however, is under pressure as mills continued buying raw material only on a need basis.
The daily Davis Index for HMS 1&2(80:20) settled unchanged at Rs34500/mt ($470.45/mt) del Mumbai mills, and the index for sponge iron declined by Rs700/mt to Rs31,400/mt delivered mills.
Markets in the North saw an uptick in ingot prices during the first half of the day as sales improved. The daily Davis Index for HMS 1&2(80:20) rose by Rs200/mt to Rs38,800/mt del Mandi Gobindgarh, and the index for sponge iron rose by Rs400/mt to Rs34,400/mt delivered mills.
The bi-weekly index for HMS 1&2 (80:20) rose by Rs450/mt to Rs34,500/mt del Jalna mills, also on tight supply, and the index for sponge iron declined by Rs400/mt to Rs32,700/mt delivered mills.
Market participants could continue to adopt a just-in-time inventory approach until demand for semi-finished and finished steel picks up.
In East India, offers for ferrous scrap rose, and the bi-weekly index for HMS 1&2 (80:20) rose by Rs500/mt to Rs37,500/mt del Durgapur mills, while the index for sponge iron rose by Rs100/mt to Rs304,00/mt delivered mills.
Offers for seaborne scrap prices remained firm, but mills were largely away from booking material due to weak steel demand from the end-users.
In other markets, the bi-weekly index for HMS 1&2(80:20) settled flat at Rs35500/mt del Chennai mills, and the index for sponge iron declined by Rs200/mt to Rs30700/mt delivered mills. The bi-weekly index for HMS 1&2 (80:20) rose by Rs500/mt to Rs33,500/mt del Goa mills, and the index for sponge iron rose by Rs1,000/mt to Rs31,000/mt delivered mills.
($1=73.3)