MOSCOW: According to government statistics released yesterday, the pig iron exports by Russia during the month of April this year jumped significantly higher when compared with the exports during same month a year before. However, the exports declined sharply from the previous month.
Russia’s pig iron exports totaled 389,263 tons in April ’16. The total exports were up by 9.8% over the previous year. The country’s pig iron exports had totaled 354,520 tons during the month of April 2015. On the other hand, the country’s pig iron exports in April this year dropped sharply by 43% relative to the prior month. Russia’s pig iron exports had totaled 676,454 tons during March this year.
The largest importer of Russian pig iron during Apr ‘16 was the US with 250,089 tons. The exports to the US dropped sharply by 36% when compared with the exports of 390,570 tons during the prior month. The exports to the US accounted for nearly 64% of the total pig iron exports by Russia during the month. The second largest importer was Turkey. The imports by Turkey surged higher by almost three times over the previous month total of 13,275 tons in March to 38,881 tons in April. In third place was Italy with 32,573 tons. The other key export destinations of Russian pig iron were Belarus (26,378 tons), Poland (13,515 tons) and South Korea (6,465 tons).
The cumulative pig iron exports by the country during the initial four-month period in 2016 totaled 1.581 million tons, 2% higher when compared with the exports of 1.550 million tons during the corresponding four-month period in 2015. The top export destination of Russian pig iron was the US. The exports to the country totaled 721,747 tons, accounting for 45.7% of the total pig iron exports during this period. The other key importers during Jan-Apr ’16 were Italy (227,348 tons, 14.4% share), Spain (145,055 tons, 9.2% share), Turkey (91,370 tons, 5.8% share) and Taiwan (81,811 tons, 5.2% share).
According to statistics published by the Customs Committee of Russia, monthly exports averaged at 395,000 tons during the first four months of 2016. The top two importing nations accounted for nearly 60% of the total pig iron shipments out of Russia during January to April this year. The country’s pig iron exports during the entire year 2016 are estimated to total around 4.740 million tons.
