State-owned National Mineral Development Corporation reported a surge in iron ore production by 73.89pc in April to 3.13mn mt from the prior-year period. Sales also increased by 123.91pc to 3.09mn mt in the same period.
The baseline figure, however, was low since the Indian government had imposed a nationwide lockdown on March 25 for 21 days, which was further extended to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the period, large steel mills like SAIL, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, RINL, JSPL, ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel had scaled down their production by nearly 40-50pcs to match the fall in market demand. Also, domestic secondary steel mills were almost shut.
Most of the company’s total production in April 2021 came from Chhattisgarh, amounting to 70pc of 2.18 mn mt. The mines in Karnataka produced the rest 30pc amounting to 950,000mt.
International iron ore prices shot by around 135pc from $80/mt in April 2020 to reach a decade high of over $190/mt on the last week of April 2021. Iron ore price was at $187/mt on May 3.