Indian iron ore imports are registered at 170,000 MT in June’16. Imports were down by 27% M-o-M. In May’16, imports stood at 232,000 MT.
Pellet imports to India stood at 72,000 MT in June’16. Only Essar Steel imported 72,000 MT pellets from Bahrain.
As per customs data maintained by SteelMint, only one import shipment has been seen.
JSW Steel, turned out to be sole importer. The steelmaker imported 170,000 MT iron ore from Brazil. Generally, the steel maker imports Brazilian concentrate and fines for its Dolvi Plant.
Rest all the importers kept themselves away from importing iron ore due to plentiful and cheaper availability of ore domestically. In addition, less viability of imported ore has also kept them away from booking any imported vessel.
In the first 3 months of FY17, total imports were registered at 1.3 MnT, down by 38% as it was 2.1 MnT in the same consecutive months in FY16.
Southern India based sponge iron plants were seen sourcing iron ore from the domestic market despite imported ore in June’16. With no iron ore import vessels in the month of June, southern India-based units preferred using either domestic e-auctioned material or domestic pellets.
Alongside, western based steel makers also saw procuring domestic pellets from Jindal SAW rather than going for imported ore due to less viability of ore.
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