Russia's Severstal sells iron ore pellets to CSN in Brazil

London — Russian mining and steel group Severstal said July 7 it started to ship iron ore pellets to steelmaker Companhia Siderurgica Nacional in Brazil, as it expands sales to new regions.

The shipment concluded is for the first batch of pellets totaling more than 100,000 mt, bound for Brazil's largest fully integrated steel producer, CSN, Severstal said in a statement.

Severtal's Karelsky Okatysh iron ore subsidiary in northwest Russia has "low-basic fluxed pellets" which were suitable for CSN's blast furnaces, it said.

The trade from Russia to Brazil confirms industry developments for Brazilian and Argentine steel plants looking to diversify steel raw materials supplies, and try new pellet qualities and origins.

Investments have recently been made at pellet plants and iron ore beneficiation facilities in the Commonwealth of Independent States, allowing for low impurity pellets and DR pellets to meet stricter quality parameters at steel plants.

"Commencing deliveries of our products to Brazil marks an invaluable opportunity for us to gain experience and develop our entry strategy to new markets, as well as to receive feedback from new customers on the quality of our products and services," Severstal's Head of Supply Chain and Raw Material Sales, Pavel Nekhvoroshch, said in the statement.

Severstal will rail the pellets from Kostomuksha to the Finnish port of Kokkola, and from there to the port of Sepetiba in Brazil.

Severstal said previously the furthest export destinations for its pellets had been the UAE and Trinidad and Tobago.