Russian pig iron exports grew in the first half of 2016

According to recently published data, the export of pig iron from the Russian Federation in June this year decreased slightly compared to the export in the same month a year earlier. However, exports in the first half of 2016 grew by almost 5% over the previous year.

Russian pig iron exports totaled 634,000 tonnes in June this year. The total volume of exports decreased slightly, by 4.1%, compared to the previous year. At the same time, the country's pig iron exports in June 2016 increased sharply by 43.2% compared to the previous month. Russian pig iron exports totaled 455,673 tons in May this year.

The largest importer of Russian pig iron in June 2016 was Spain with 175,000 tons. Exports to Spain increased sharply by more than 25 times compared to exports of 7,000 tonnes in the same month in 2015. Exports to Spain accounted for almost 28% of total pig iron exports from Russia during the month. The second largest importer was the United States. US imports were in decline over the previous year. The top two importing countries accounted for more than 50% of the total iron supplies from Russia in June 2016.

Pig iron exports in the first half of 2016 amounted to 2.66 million tonnes, up 4.5% from 2.545 million tonnes in the corresponding six-month period in 2015. Throughout 2016, Russian pig iron exports are estimated to be around 4.860 million tonnes.