Indian mining company National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) has kept iron ore prices unchanged in both, lump and fines, for March deliveries, reflecting the stability in international prices with the benchmark of 62pc Fe close to $175/mt cfr China.
NMDC’s iron ore lumps are priced at Rs5,100/mt ($70/mt) and fines at Rs4,210/mt ($58/mt), effective from March 6, according to a company release.
The state-owned company had decreased iron ore prices by Rs600/mt ($8/mt) in early-February in line with fall in international, in addition to drop in domestic prices by private miners in the Indian state of Odisha due to improvement in supply.
On the contrary, pellet Sponge iron prices in Raipur surged by Rs4,000/mt ($55/mt) in the last one month because of strong recovery in steel demand and higher capacity utilisation in domestic market. A few primary steel producers had raised rebar prices marginally by Rs500/mt ($7/mt) while some decided to rollover prices for March deliveries to meet the sales target of FY2021. A few mills are also offering discount of Rs1,000/mt ($14/mt) in various flat products depending on the quantity.
NMDC’s iron ore output increased by 19pc and sales by 12pc in February compared to prior year period.