Indian mills book around 300,000 t of pig iron for exports since mid-Feb'22

Demand for pig iron, especially from the USA, turned active on growing supply concerns ever since the onset of the Russia-Ukraine war. Indian pig iron producers have concluded some export deals for sizeable volumes to western countries, with the highest share of exports bound for the USA, as per the latest information available with SteelMint. Around 300,000 tonnes (t) of pig iron export deals have been concluded since mid-Feb'22.

It may be mentioned that Russia and Ukraine constitute more than 50% i.e. 7 mnt of the total pig iron exports globally. The total global seaborne trade in pig iron is estimated at over 13 mnt per annum. Russia saw a 5.5% y-o-y drop in pig iron exports in 2021 to 3.92 mnt as against 4.18 mnt in the preceding year, as per SteelMint data. The drop was majorly because of decreased imports from China against the backdrop of production curbs. On the other hand, Ukraine exported 3.18 mnt last year, up 2.4% y-o-y.

Indian pig iron export prices hit all-time high

SteelMint's assessment for Indian steel grade pig iron exports surged by a whopping 25% m-o-m to $820/t FOB east coast as of 02 Apr'22. Prices have climbed to an all-time high.

Indian pig iron exports jump nearly 50% in CY'21

India's installed merchant pig iron capacity is 7 mnt while the actual production is around 4.80 mnt. Out of the total output of 4.8 mnt in FY'21, production of steel grade pig iron was assessed at 3.65 mnt. Foundry grade pig iron accounted for the rest 1.15 mnt.

Interestingly, India increased pig iron exports by over 50% y-o-y to 1.3 mnt from 0.86 mnt in CY'20 by catering to emerging markets such as South Korea and Turkey as well as ratcheting up shipments to traditional buyers such as the USA. Vedanta continued to be the leading exporter of pig iron in CY'21. The company exported 397,300 tonnes (t), an increase of 133% compared to CY'20. Next was JSPL with 359,960 t. JSW's Bhushan Power and Steel (BPSL) and Rashmi Metaliks were the other major exporters with 183,646 t and 153,035 t, respectively.