Indian steel major JSW Steel sourced 1.67 million tonnes (mn t) of iron ore from the merchant market in Jun’21. The sourcing dropped by 38% as against 2.7 mn t seen in May’21. The figures exclude captive iron ore sourcing.
On 9 Jul’21, SteelMint had reported that JSW Steel was planning a maintenance shutdown of its hot strip mill-1 (HSM-1) at its Vijayanagar plant for 40-50 days. HSM-1 will be operated at 50% capacity for two months and 50% will remain shut from 15 Jul-15 Sept’21. HSM-2 is facing a breakdown and will remain closed for 10 days. Thus, production will remain impacted in the near term and lower iron ore sourcing could be due to the planned maintenance schedule leading to lower iron ore intake.
Also, JSW Steel’s crude steel production for Jun’21 was at 1.345 mn t, decreasing marginally as compared to 1.352 mn t seen a month ago. Its capacity utilisation dipped marginally by 2% to 91% in Q1FY’22 as compared to 93% in Q4FY’21, SteelMint learned from the company’s recent press release.
Sourcing from Odisha drops in Jun’21
The steelmaker procured 0.49 mn t of iron ore from Odisha-based merchant miners in Jun’21, down 46% as compared to 0.91 t in May’21. Key suppliers were Prakash Industries, Essel and Rungta Mines.
Apart from this, it’s sourcing from Odisha’s captive mines fell from 0.76 mn t in May’21 to 0.37 mn t in Jun’21.
Sourcing from NMDC (Chhattisgarh) up in Jun’21
JSW Steel’s (Dolvi) sourcing from NMDC increased by 9% to 192,500 t as compared with 177,100 t in May’21. NMDC has kept prices unchanged for Jun’21 deliveries. The prices of Baila lumps and fines stood at INR 7,650/t and INR 6,560/t respectively.
Purchases from Karnataka e-auctions fall 39% m-o-m
In Jun’21, JSW Steel sourced around 0.99 mn t of iron ore from the Karnataka e-auctions, down by 39% against 1.62 mn t in May’21.
Out of this 0.99 mn t, NMDC supplied 0.42 mn t, down by 35% against 0.65 mn t in May’21. It contributed around 43% of the total JSW sourcing. Vedanta stood as the second-largest supplier to JSW Steel at 0.21 mn t against 0.37 mn t in the previous month. JSW Steel’s iron ore sourcing from other private mines stood at 0.36 mn t.
JSW Steel’s iron ore imports nil in Jun’21
JSW Steel’s iron ore imports stood at nil for Jun’21. JSW Steel imported 79,540 t of iron ore from Finland in Nov’20. Considering the sharp hike in global iron ore prices, iron ore imports seem less viable now. The spot iron ore fines (Fe 62%) index stood at $199/t, CNF China towards the beginning of Jun’21 and increased to $214/t, CNF China towards Jun’21 end.
JSW Steel iron ore sourcing in Jun’21 and May’21
Source: SteelMint Research
Quantity in t
Excludes captive iron ore sourcing
Provisional Data
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