Friday, December 17,
After a marginal lowering of iron ore prices for the current quarter, NMDC will be making an upward revision of ore prices in the fourth quarter of the current fiscal, in the wake of a squeeze on global supplies and a rise in demand.
India’s largest iron ore producer is likely to hike prices of the raw material by a little less than 10 per cent for the January-March 2011 quarter, in a move that could prompt Indian steel makers such as SAIL, Tata Steel, JSW and Essar to hike steel prices in the New Year.
After a series of hikes in iron ore prices since the beginning of 2010, NMDC had, for the first time this fiscal, reduced ore prices by about 6-8 per cent for the October-December 2010 quarter, providing some relief to steel makers.
Ore prices were hiked nearly 90 per cent for the April-June quarter over the 2009-10 benchmark rates to touch between $120 and $135 a tonne. In the subsequent quarter (July-September) NMDC had again raised the rates to about $ 145 a tonne.
“Going by present indications, we may hike ore prices for the next quarter in the range of 6-8 per cent in line with global trends that saw an increase in prices in tandem with rise in Chinese demand,” said Mr Rana Som, NMDC’s Chairman and Managing Director.
Steel industry analysts say that increase in steel prices in the New Year could be between 3-5 per cent a tonne, with both iron ore and coal prices rising.
Source: The Business Line
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