2011年,巴西和独联体国家球团矿现金成本处于全球中低水平。低成本球团矿生产商大都拥有球团原料资源。巴西淡水河谷公司是全球最大的铁矿石生产企业,拥有大量高品位磁铁矿资源,生产成本较低。淡水河谷公司球团厂需要的球团原料均来自本公司的东南系统矿山,这些矿山的现金成本全球最低。因此,淡水河谷球团矿现金成本也处于全球最低端。日本神户钢铁公司和康力斯公司位于荷兰的艾默伊登钢厂都要在国际市场采购高炉级球团矿原料。2002年球团原料价格比粉矿低18%,反映出球团矿制造成本高于烧结成本。然而,自2005年以来,球团原料与 In 2011, the cash costs of pellets in Brazil and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries were at low and medium levels globally. Most low-cost pellet producers own the pellet raw material resources. CVRD Brazil is the world’s largest iron ore producer with a large number of high-grade magnetite resources with lower production costs. The pellet raw materials required by Vale’s pellet plant come from the company’s southeast system mines, which have the lowest cash costs in the world. As a result, Vale’s pellet cash costs are also among the lowest in the world. Japan’s Kobe Steel and Corus, both of which are based in the Netherlands, source blast furnace-grade pellets in the international market. In 2002 pellet raw material price is 18% lower than powder ore, reflecting the cost of pellet mining is higher than the sintering cost. However, pellets have been used since 2005