India’s state-owned iron ore company National Mineral Development Corporation’s (NMDC) iron ore output rose by 12pc to 9.6mn mt in Q3 FY2021 (ended December 31, 2020) from a year ago, while sales grew 10pc to 9.28mn mt. For the nine-months, iron ore production fell by a percent to 21.84mn mt, while sales dropped by 3pc to 22.16mn mt from the prior-year period.
Compared to the prior quarter, production increased by 70pc, while sales rose by 41pc. In Q3, exports rose to 71pc from Q2 to 7.4mn mt, while domestic sales tallied at 85.44mn mt.
The average domestic realization in Q3 rose by 35pc to Rs4,402/mt from the prior-year quarter, while sales realization increased by 31pc to Rs4,644/mt.
NMDC posted a net profit of Rs21.09bn in Q3, up by 53pc from the prior year, while the company’s EBITDA improved by 67pc to Rs28.73bn. Its EBITDA margin improved to 66pc from 57pc in Q3 FY2020 and 50pc in Q2 FY2021.
Revenues improved on higher international iron ore prices driven by robust economic recovery in China. NMDC hiked prices by Rs2,550/mt from July to January but cut them by Rs600/mt on Feb 8. NMDC revised prices on the back of softening international iron ore prices, with the benchmark of Fe 62pc close to $156-157/mt cfr China on Monday.
In January, NMDC’s iron ore production rose by 16.6pc to 3.86mn mt with sales up 26.3pc from the prior year.