Depreciating Indian Rupee supports Indian pellet exporters; Essar steel concludes a deal with China.
Essar Steel, the single largest Indian pellet exporter in the current scenario, recently concluded an export deal with China from its Paradip (Odisha) plant, which has an annual capacity of 6 MnT.
A vessel named “MV. Vishva Anand” carrying 78,100 MT pellets left Paradip Port on 16 Aug’15 and is expected to reach China by the end of this month.
The deal had been tentatively concluded at around USD 65-70/MT FoB India, according to sources. Pellet exports from India attract an export duty of 5%.
Chinese government is actively working on anti pollution norms, where mills will soon be asked to reduce sinter usage over higher grade ore or pellet as their basic raw material for steel making. Sinter is the most pollution causing material in steel production and the government is planning to improve its anti-pollution standards.
Indian rupee depreciated to 65.8 per USD, which is a 2-year low and is supporting exports to a certain extent. At an export price in the range of USD 65-70/MT, ex-plant realization would be around INR 4,000/MT.
Single shipment from Essar of pellet export was seen last month. It carried 20,000 MT pellets to Abu Dhabi via Vizag Port.
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