India’s pig iron exports plunged by a third during Jan-Sep ‘15

NEW DELHI (Scrap Monster): The latest trade statistics released by the Indian Ministry of Commerce indicates that the country’s pig iron exports plunged heavily during the initial nine-month period in 2015.

The country’s pig iron exports during September last year totaled 2,764 MT, increasing sharply by over 44% when compared with the exports of 1,915 MT during Aug ’15. However, the exports were down sharply by 96.1% when compared with the exports during the same month a year before. It must be noted that the country’s pig iron exports had hit fifteen-month highs in June last year. The exports during the month had totaled 94,831 MT.

During September last year, Bhutan was the top importer of pig iron from India. The imports by Bhutan totaled 1,002 MT during Sep ‘15, accounting for nearly 366% of the total exports by India.

The second largest export destination of Indian pig iron was Pakistan. The exports to Pakistan totaled 902 MT, accounting for 33% of the total Indian exports. The Indian pig iron exports to Pakistan jumped multi-fold when compared with the exports of 108 MT recorded during August ‘15. In third place was Bangladesh with 640 tons.

The cumulative pig iron exports by India during the first nine months of 2015 totaled 441,128 MT, down 32.8% when compared with the cumulative exports of 656,008 MT during the corresponding nine-month period in 2014. The largest importer of Indian pig iron during Jan-Sep ’15 was Thailand. The imports by Thailand totaled 244,756 MT, accounting for 55.5% share of Indian export. In second place was Taiwan (44,000 MT, 10% share), followed by Saudi Arabia (35,346 MT, 8.0% share). The top three destinations together accounted for almost three-fourths of the total Indian exports.

The annual pig iron exports by the country are estimated at around 590,000 MT in 2015.