SMM Weekly Maintenance Summary for November 2

India’s state-owned NMDC reported provisional iron ore production of 5.04 million tonnes in October 2026, up 18% year on year, while sales declined 11.6% to 3.44 million tonnes. Production increased in both Chhattisgarh and Karnataka. The sales decline was concentrated in Chhattisgarh, where volumes fell to 1.90 million tonnes from 2.77 million tonnes, outweighing higher Karnataka sales. During April–October, production rose 22.1% to 32.32 million tonnes, while sales eased 1.7% to 25.67 million tonnes. The update shows production growth continuing to outpace sales, although the filing does not explain the divergence.

Coal India Limited (CIL) recorded its highest-ever monthly coal supply of 70.3 million tonne in October 2026, marking a 19% YoY increase from 59.2 million tonne in October 2025. Coal production also rose 19% YoY to 67.2 million tonne, compared with 56.38 million tonne in the previous year. The increase in supply comes as coal stocks at thermal power plants need to be strengthened to meet rising electricity demand. Despite challenges from unseasonal rains, Puja holidays and a cyclone, CIL managed to achieve this record performance. For the steel sector, India's coking coal imports declined 4.18% YoY to 27.30 million tonne in August, keeping the focus on imported coking coal availability and raw material costs for domestic steelmakers.

[Europe] European hot-rolled coil (HRC) suppliers continued to probe the market with higher target prices this week; although overall market activity remained generally limited, price levels continued to edge slightly upward. Specifically, despite ongoing weakness in end-use demand, prices in Italy remained resilient under the support of supply-side constraints, with mainstream workable transaction levels holding firm between 750–770 EUR/tonne EXW (840–862 USD/tonne). Additionally, a UK-based seller offered imported cargoes into Spain at 725 EUR/tonne CFR (812 USD/tonne), inclusive of Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) costs. Notably, crude steel output in Italy is projected to contract further over the coming months following Acciaierie d’Italia's (ADI) blast furnace shutdown; however, dragged down by a significant decline in downstream business over the past two months, end-user buyers are only entering the market when holding firm orders, preventing any explosive restocking wave.