India: Chrome ore dispatches rise by 11% m-o-m in Jan'23

Indian chrome ore dispatches increased by 11% m-o-m in January 2023 on good demand amid hike in ferro chrome prices. Meanwhile, hike in imported chrome prices by 10% m-o-m in January also turned Indian smelters' interest into domestic chrome ore. This also resulted in an increase in domestic chrome ore dispatches.

However, dispatches from TATA Steel dropped by 15% m-o-m in January with around 41% (64,022 t) of total dispatches kept for captive consumption. Meanwhile, FACOR dispatched the entire 11,875 t for its captive consumption, which fell by 7% m-o-m in January.

Chrome ore dispatches from OMC and IMFA, on the other hand, increased by 60% and 20%, respectively, m-o-m in January. OMC sold the entire quantity of 141,062 t to domestic smelters. IMFA retained its chrome ore for captive use.

Procurement trend

Jindal stainless (69,306t), IMFA (64,319t) and TATA steel (64,022t) remained the largest buyers of domestic chrome ore in January 2023.

Jindal Stainless procured 69% of its total purchased material from OMC, while the remaining quantity of 21,412 t were procured from TATA steel. In addition, IMFA procured a majority of the chrome ore (98% of its total procured material) from its captive mines.