Brazilian miner- Vale’s total iron ore fines production in CY’20 was at 300.4mn t, down marginally against 301.9 mn t in CY’19. The S11D ramp up, resumption at Vargem Grande and Timbopeba was offset by constraints in tailings disposal in Itabira and Brucutu, COVID impacts, delays in opening new mining fronts in Serra Norte and four months stoppage at Fazendao site.
In Q4 CY’20 Vale iron ore fines output dropped 5% to 84.5 mn t due to high rainfall and tailings disposal restrictions in the Southeastern system against 88.7 mn t in Q3 CY’20.
The total pellet output recorded at 29.7 mn t in CY’20 was down 29% y-o-y as a result of lower pellet feed from Vale’s sites. The pellet output for the quarter ended Dec’20 dropped 17% to 7.1 mn t due to lower pellet feed availability from Brucutu and Itabira, and maintenance in Tubarao 6 pellet plant.
Iron ore and pellet sales fell for the quarter
Sales dropped to 286.1 mn in CY ’20 against 312.5 mn t in CY’19. Iron ore sales in CY’20 stood at 254.9 mn t and pellet sales was at 31.2 mn t.
In Q4 CY’20, the total iron ore fines shipment stood at 82.8 mn t (up 26% q-o-q) and pellet sales at 8.5 mn t (up marginally q-o-q).
Key updates
- Vale ended CY ’20 with 322 mn t of production capacity and expects to achieve 350 mn t capacity by the end of CY’21.
- In Jan’21, Vale resumed Vargem Grande pellet plant operations, halted since Feb’19, adding 7 mn t per annum of pellet plant capacity (from 46.8 mn t per year to 53.8 mn t per year).
- Vale achieved record sales to China in Q4 CY’20, at 64 mn t as compared to 58 mn t in Q4 CY’19.
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