Domestic pellet production rose by 10%, m-o-m, to 6.23 million tonnes (mn t) in Nov’21 from 5.65 mn t in Oct, as per SteelMint data. Production increased by over 3% on the year compared with 6.02 mn t in Nov’20.
Odisha emerged as the leading state in terms of production with 1.86 mn t in Nov, followed by Karnataka with 1.42 mn t.
Karnataka production increased by over 12%, m-o-m, from 1.27 mn t in Oct on state-owned pellet manufacturer KIOCL resuming production after a six-week maintenance shutdown.
India’s pellet capacity is in excess of 111 mn t per annum and total production in 2020 was more than 65 mn t. Production till Nov in CY’21 stands at 68.7 mn t, SteelMint data shows.
Growth in output
Domestic pellet output increased in Nov on new capacity coming on stream with the 3 mn t/year pellet plant owned by merchant iron ore miner Rungta Mines commencing operations at Chaliyama in Jharkhand.
In addition, KIOCL restarted operations at its 3.5 mn t/year Mangaluru pellet plant in Karnataka.
On the other hand, pellet export sentiments have received a boost of late after a pause in Q3CY’21 on a rebound in global iron ore prices. SteelMint reported that spot buying activities from Chinese end-users is yet to pick up but a hike in global iron ore prices has fuelled some optimism amongst traders to restock cargoes.
India exported more than 13 mn t of pellets in FY’21, as per SteelMint data. Total exports till Nov this year have reached nearly 10 mn t.
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