India: 50,000 MT Mill Scale Export Vessel to Arrive at Kandla Port

According to customs data maintained with SteelMint, a vessel named 'Thor Friendship' is expected to arrive at India's Kandla port on 24 Nov'17. It will be exporting 50,000 MT mill scale from India.

As per market sources report, the cargo is likely to be shipped to Phillipines and the cargo belongs to Gujarat based trading company KK Enterprises.

So far in FY18 (till Oct'17), Indian mill scale exports have summed up to 118,000 MT.

Indian mill scale exports to China have weakened after Chinese govt. notified World Trade Organization (WTO) on 18 Jul'17 on initiative to ban imports of solid waste by year end, which includes mill scale also. On 15 Nov'17, China officially notified World Trade Organization (WTO) of its intent to adopt a number of environmental protection control standards for imported solid wastes as raw materials.

The applicable thresholds communicated at 0.5% for ferrous scrap imports to China and 1% for non-ferrous scrap.The Chinese WTO notifications proposed the date of adoption as 31 Dec'17 and the entry into force on 1 Mar'18.

SteelMint learned that Indian mill scale exporters are still lacking clarity over the notification issued by the Chinese government. And they expect things to be clear in Jan'18 after renewal of licenses are completed. Following this Indian mill scale exporters have started exploring other markets like Malaysia, South Korea and Japan.

Iron ore fines (Fe 62%) index has climbed by USD 2-3/MT yesterday and is at USD 66.7/MT, CFR China. Indian mill scale (Fe 70/68%) export reference price stands at USD 53-56/MT, FoB India.