Iron Ore Pellets Market is slated to witness massive growth until 2032 owing to the growing inclination towards carbon-less steelmaking, especially across North America and Europe. In addition, the increase in disposable incomes along with efforts by governments to enhance infrastructures is likely to propel the market growth over the forecast period.

The COVID-19 pandemic posed threat to the industry outlook as the coronavirus outbreak halted business operations and inflated the prices of iron ore, resulting in a further decline in revenue. Nonetheless, in the post-pandemic scenario, factors such as soaring development initiatives in emerging nations, escalating incomes of people, and changes in market trends supported the business recovery.

Major players in the industry have been focusing on expanding their production capacity, increasing the customer base, and adopting strategic partnership agreements with developed construction and automotive firms to strengthen the business outlook.

The iron ore pellets market has been bifurcated on the basis of pelletizing process, balling technology, grade, application, product source, steelmaking technology, and region.

With respect to steelmaking technology, the industry has been classified into electric induction furnace, oxygen-based or blast furnace and electric arc furnace. The oxygen-based or blast furnace technology segment accounted for more than $47 billion in 2022, depicting 3% CAGR over 2023-2032. The segment growth is attributable to the easy injectability of natural gas and pulverized coal which enables the mitigation of carbon dioxide.

The iron ore pellets market, based on pelletizing process, has been categorized into traveling grate, grate kiln, and others. The others segment which includes shaft furnace and the cold bonded palletization process is anticipated to reach $7.5 billion by 2032. This can be ascribed to the bonding mechanism of cold bonding pellets using sponge iron power and cylindrical shafts used in shaft furnaces which eases the flow of solid charge into freed up area.

In the regional context, the North America iron ore pellets industry is primed to witness growth at over 2% CAGR between 2023 and 2032. The demand for steel in North America is intensifying due to the expansion of the construction and automotive industry. According to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), the U.S. accounts for around 75% of the steel consumption per annum in the region, and more than 40% of this is consumed by the construction industry every year.

Meanwhile, the Latin America iron ore pellets market is foreseen to expand at over 1.5% CAGR until 2032 on account of the significant presence of several industrial companies such as Samarco, Ternium, and Vale. These firms are engaged in business tactics to score an edge in the thriving iron ore pellets market across LATAM. To cite an instance, in May 2019, Vale announced to invest around $2.5 billion over the next five years to establish and expand the usage of dry processing facilities in Brazil.