India: Essar Steel Iron Ore & Pellet Sourcing Surge 26% in Oct'18
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Essar Steel - an integrated steelmaker with steel making capacity of 10 MnT p.a. recorded increase in total iron ore & pellet sourcing for the month of Oct'18. The sourcing stood at 1.12 MnT in Oct'18, up 26% M-o-M as against 0.88 MnT in Sep'18.
On yearly basis, iron ore & pellet sourcing witnessed rise of 9% in Oct'18 as against 1.02 MnT in Oct'17.
Iron ore procurement from NMDC (C.G.) up 38% on monthly basis
Essar Steel procured 0.57 MnT of iron ore in Oct'18 from NMDC's Bailadila mines in Chhattisgarh via slurry pipeline, up 38% against procurement in Sep'18 at 0.41 MnT.
Earlier, NMDC had increased iron ore prices twice in Sep'18 but rolled over the prices for the month of Nov'18.
On yearly basis, the steelmaker depicted marginal decline in Oct'18 sourcing as compared to 0.58 MnT in Oct'17.
Essar iron ore sourcing from Odisha merchant mines stable M-o-M
Essar Steel sourced 0.41 MnT iron ore in Oct'18 from Odisha's merchant mines, stable on monthly basis.
Odisha based merchant miners had increased prices successively in Aug'18 and Sep'18. Post price hike, the merchant miners are heard offering discounts further over increased offers to stimulate buying interest.
Out of the total iron ore sourced from Odisha in Oct'18, largest share was contributed by Serajuddin at 0.15 MnT (down 29% M-o-M) followed by Indrani Patnaik at 0.10 MnT (up 8% on monthly basis) and KJS Ahluwalia at 0.07 MnT (up 18% M-o-M)
Essar Pellet imports increased more than two folds M-o-M
Essar Steel's iron ore and pellet imports witnessed at 0.14 MnT in Oct'18, up more than two folds on monthly basis as against 0.06 MnT in Sep'18.
Out of the total imports, 0.06 MnT stood iron ore from Malaysia and remaining 0.08 MnT stood pellets from Bahrain.
Essar Steel's iron ore & pellet Sourcing
| Seller | Oct'18 | Sep'18 | M-o-M (%) | Oct'17 | Y-o-Y (%) |
| NMDC | 570,000 | 413,900 | 38% | 580,000 | -2% |
| Serajuddin | 146,037 | 204,828 | -29% | 97,981 | 49% |
| Indrani Patnaik | 98,891 | 91,450 | 8% | 64,563 | 53% |
| KJS Ahluwalia | 70,498 | 59,533 | 18% | 166,067 | -58% |
| RP Sao | 69,991 | 31,610 | 121% | - | 100% |
| Rungta Mines | 15,999 | 11,154 | 43% | 7,686 | 108% |
| MGM Minerals | 10,633 | 7,786 | 37% | - | 100% |
| MG Mohanty | 1,995 | 5,998 | -67% | - | 100% |
| Mid East Integrated Steel | - | - | - | 12,411 | -100% |
| Kaypee Enterprises | - | - | - | 7,416 | -100% |
| Import | 135,000 | 58,540 | 131% | 88,000 | 53% |
| Grand Total | 1,119,045 | 884,800 | 26% | 936124 | 20% |
Qty in MT
Provisional data
Source: SteelMint Research, Customs, Odisha govt.
Essar Steel's long-standing bankruptcy case
In Oct'18 Arcelor Mittal (AM) was selected as the preferred bidder for the insolvent asset ahead of its key competitor Numetal and other contender Vedanta Group. According to the latest update, Essar Steel creditors moved to NCLT against Arcelor takeover of Essar Steel. However, the final decision for the bids and take over still remains pending.
