According to ICRA Limited, an Indian independent credit rating agency, Indian domestic pellet producers are positioned for strong utilization rates and, therefore, strong financial strength due to both strong domestic and export demand. The ICRA report noted that given the significant share of low-grade iron ore fines in India and favorable spread between pellet and iron ore fine prices, its vast volume of inferior grade ore will be increasingly fed to pelletization plants for use in steelmaking. Additionally, iron ore pellet production is also important in the feedstock of the Indian DRI industry. According to the National Steel Policy issued by the Ministry of Steel, domestic DRI production is expected to reach 30 million mt by 2020. India produced slightly over 22 million mt in 2017.
Large pellet producers include Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Essar Steel and Jindal Steel & Power while merchant producers include Brahmani River Pellets, KIOCL, MSPL, and Rashmi Metaliks. India’s palletization capacity is estimated to achieve 100 million mt by FY 2020, ending on March 31, 2020.