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.