Ferrexpo produces more than 2.7 mln tonnes of high-grade iron ore pellet in Q1

Ukraine's Ferrexpo produced 2.71 million tonnes of high-grade iron ore pellet in the first quarter of 2021, the company said this week.

Of the total, 2.7 million tonnes were 65% Fe Ferrexpo Premium pellets and 35,000 tonnes 67% Fe Direct Reduction (DR) pellets.

The January-March production figure was just 0.4% shy of 2020’s first-quarter total of 2.73 million tonnes, but was down by 12% from the 3.08 million tonnes produced in the fourth quarter of 2020.

The company said the quarter-on-quarter drop was due to scheduled upgrade work on a pelletizer line, which was completed during the first quarter of 2021. It added that further upgrade works were continuing into the second quarter but, once complete, this would result in overall pelletizer capacity increasing by 0.5-1.0 million tonnes per year.

Ferrexpo also produced 65,000 tonnes of 67% Fe commercial iron ore concentrate during the first quarter.

In November 2020, Ferrexpo concluded its first Globalore sale based of Fastmarkets’ index for iron ore 65% Fe Brazil-origin fines, cfr Qingdao. The index has averaged $199.13 per tonne in April so far, up $5.90 per tonne from an average of $193.23 per tonne in March.

The April average so far this year for Fastmarkets’ index for iron ore 65% Fe Blast Furnace pellet, cfr Qingdao is $221.84 per tonne, down $4.31 per tonne from the March average of $226.15 per tonne.

What to read next
Under the proposed change, Fastmarkets will update the normalization coefficient for its Iron ore 61% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao and Iron ore 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao indices on a daily basis, allowing the coefficient to better reflect daily price movements. The normalization coefficient is currently updated on a monthly basis. Fastmarkets had observed that […]
The new indices have been introduced in response to feedback from index users requesting more pricing references for high-grade iron ore fines and their related VIU adjustments in the seaborne market, in addition to Fastmarkets’ existing coverage on mid-grade VIUs. The VIU penalties are calculated through a regression analysis that harnesses data points from Fastmarkets’ […]
Steel markets in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are facing a growing supply crisis for steel and raw materials after the month-long regional conflict paralyzed shipping.
Decarbonization has become the defining theme for heavy industry. With the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) now in force and mounting pressure to curb emissions, hard-to-abate sectors such as steel are being pushed to adapt to a lower-carbon economy.
The annual consultation sought to ensure that our audited methodologies and price specifications continue to reflect the physical markets for steelmaking raw materials, in compliance with the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) principles for Price Reporting Agencies (PRAs). This includes all elements of our pricing process, our price specifications and publication frequency. The current methodology […]
Fastmarkets is inviting feedback from the industry on the methodology for its audited steelmaking raw materials indices, as part of its announced annual methodology review process. The consultation, which is open until Friday March 27, seeks to ensure that our audited methodologies and price specifications continue to reflect the physical markets for steelmaking raw materials, […]