China, the world’s largest iron ore importer, imported around 1.17 MnT pellets in May’16 against 1.11 MnT pellets in Apr’16. Imports up by 5% M-o-M.
However, if Y-o-Y comparison is done, country’s pellet imports in May’16 is significantly down by 48% against May’15.
In the first five months of 2016, the country imported around 6.35 MnT pellets. However, in 2015, the country imported 9.44 MnT pellets in the same consecutive months.
China mainly imports pellets from Ukraine, Brazil, Australia, India etc. Ukraine turned out to be the highest exporter of pellets to China.
In first five months of 2016, Ukraine exported 34% (2.19 MnT ) of total pellets exported to China. Following Ukraine, from Brazil imported 1.49 MnT pellets, from Australia 1.07 MnT and from India imported 0.25 MnT pellets to China.
India- a potential market for pellet exports to China
After Brazilian Samarco’s operations got disrupted, which supplies around 10-11 MnT DR grade pellets to China, India is becoming a potential market for pellet imports to China.
It’s been months, India is actively exporting pellets to China. Starting FY17, India exported 0.76 MnT pellets to China. JSPL, Odisha-based BRPL, Essar Steel are actively exporting high-grade pellets to China.
On the other hand, due restriction on usage of sinter in Tangshan city, Chinese steel mills are directed towards using lumps and pellets as their feedstock. This in return created a strong demand for pellets in China.
As the pellet demand is strong, India will likely to increase its pellets exports to China due to less transition as well as transportation costs.
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