Posted on 14 Sep 2021
India recorded a whopping 80% m-o-m rise in its pig iron export shipments in Aug'21. The volumes stood at 0.27 million tonnes (mn t) in Aug'21 as compared to 0.15 mn t in Jul'21, data maintained with SteelMint shows.
Bangladesh leading importer
Surprisingly, Bangladesh emerged as the largest importer of pig iron from India in Aug'21 with 0.06 mn t.
The US, Sri Lanka and Turkey, stood in the second position, among the top importers' list in Aug'21 with 0.05 mn t each.
The other key importers were South Korea and Taiwan with 0.03 mn t each. South Korea has been increasing imports of metallic products such as pig iron and hot briquetted iron (HBI) on expectations of supply concerns that may erupt in the medium to long term, with China increasing seaborne purchases of high-grade ferrous scrap, especially from the major exporter, Japan.
Importantly, China and the Philippines, which were the only two importers of pig iron from India in Jul'21 remained absent in Aug'21.
Vedanta leading exporter
Vedanta continued to be the largest exporter at 0.08 mn t in Aug'21, witnessing a significant increase of 74% m-o-m as against 0.05 mn t in Jul'21. Other major exporting companies were JSPL and JSW Group.
Price trends
SteelMint's price assessment for Indian pig iron (steel grade) export prices, after hitting a peak of $570/tonne (t) FOB towards end-May'21, dropped to around $505-510/t FOB towards the end of Aug'21 on the back of falling global scrap and pig iron prices.
Outlook
Indian pig iron export shipments are likely to remain less active in Sept'21 owing to the bid-offer disparities in the tenders floated in August and comparatively better realisations in the domestic market. Also, pig iron prices in India's merchant market are rising steadily due to increased production costs with surging coking coal and metallurgical coke prices. This may result in a hike in domestic pig iron offers in India, turning down the interest of mills in exports.
Source:SteelMint
