India Steel Market Watch
December 10: Miners cut iron ore lumps offers in the last one week, taking into account low demand and inventory levels, industry sources said.
State-run miner NMDC cut prices of iron ore by 15% to Rs 1,800 per ton in an effort to revive demand.
With the recent cut, NMDC's iron prices have come down by 25% in the last two weeks. NMDC had cut the price of iron ore on November 26 by 13% to Rs 2,100 per ton from the previous Rs 2,400.
Analysts believe the decision came after weak despatch volumes in November. NMDC's sales volumes fell 12% year-on-year to 17.72 million tons till November 30, 2015.
Analysts say that after the recent cut in iron prices, NMDC's price is now at par with the imported price of iron ore and that is likely to revive domestic demand.
The company has set a target of almost doubling its mining capacity to 75 million tons in the next two years compared to the current capacity 34 million tons. Its production stood at 30.4 million ton in the last financial year.
Sources said miners in Odisha, like Rungta, Essel, Serajjudin and Indrani, cut lumps prices but kept fines offers unchanged.
The cut in the prices of the steel-making raw material comes at a time when steel mills are struggling to maintain their margins due to weak domestic demand. Steel mills in India have posted a sharp decline in their profitability in the last few quarters.
Following are prevailing domestic iron ore prices:
|
|
|
Price (ex-mines) |
Price (ex-mines) |
W-O-W |
Company |
Size |
Grade |
10-Dec-15 |
03-Dec-15 |
|
NMDC |
6-20mm |
65 |
1800 |
2100 |
-300 |
|
10-150mm |
64 |
1610 |
1870 |
-260 |
|
Fines |
64 |
1560 |
1560 |
0 |
Rungta |
5-18mm |
65 |
NA |
NA |
NA |
|
5-18mm |
63 |
2600 |
2700 |
-100 |
|
10-30mm |
65 |
NA |
NA |
NA |
|
10-30mm |
63 |
2500 |
2600 |
-100 |
|
Blue Dust |
63 |
1800 |
1800 |
0 |
Essel |
5-18mm |
63 |
2300 |
2400 |
-100 |
|
10-30mm |
63 |
1600 |
1800 |
-200 |
|
Blue Dust |
63 |
1500 |
1500 |
0 |
Serajuddin |
5-18mm |
63 |
2200 |
2200 |
0 |
|
Blue Dust |
63 |
1500 |
1500 |
0 |
Indrani |
5-18mm |
63 |
2000 |
2000 |
0 |
|
Blue Dust |
63 |
1400 |
1400 |
0 |
KJS Ahluwalia |
5-18 mm |
63 |
2200 |
2400 |
-200 |
|
Blue Dust |
63 |
1500 |
1500 |
0 |