India's Bulk Pig Iron Exports Up in CY19 on Chinese Intake

India - one of the leading producer and exporter of Pig Iron in the world, has registered a growth of around 54% in its annual bulk pig iron exports in CY19.

As per data maintained by the SteelMint stats, the nation's bulk pig iron exports stood at 0.37 MnT in CY 2019; up by 54.16% Y-o-Y against 0.24 MnT in CY18. Meanwhile, prior to this in CY17 it was about 0.58 MnT.

Pig iron exports gained momentum due to sharp surge in scrap & billet prices globally amid increased Chinese buying.

In addition, the ban on scrap imports by China under China foreign garbage policy 2016 has led to sharp growth in India's pig iron exports as China accounted for a share of around 50% in Indian bulk pig iron exports. Also, the production restrictions by Chinese govt has compelled local mills to explore the possibility of importing metallic and semis.

As per data compiled by SteelMint, China stands as the largest importer of Indian pig iron contributing to around 0.18 MnT (48%), followed by Bangladesh 0.17 MnT (45%) and Thailand 0.02 MnT (6%).

The major exports of Pig iron were done from the Indian ports of - Paradeep (45.50%), Mormugao (33.70%), Gopalpur (8.11%), Gangavaram (7.30%) & Mumbai (5.40%).

Shipper wise export analysis:

-- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India's one of the major steelmakers, grabbed the position of top exporter of Pig iron in CY19 by exporting around 0.14 MnT, as per the SteelMint's assessment.

-- In CY 2019, the pig iron export of Vedanta Resources increased by 71.42% to 0.12 MnT as against 0.07 MnT in CY 2018.

-- MMTC pig iron export plunged over halt in operations of NINL in CY2019. The company's exports fell by around 50% and stood at 0.06 MnT in comparison with 0.12 MnT during 2018.

-- Southern India based Vizag Steel exported 0.03 MnT in 2019, lower by 40% as compared to 0.05 MnT during 2018.

-- JSW Steel exported 0.02 MnT pig iron in 2019.