Iron ore prices in the e-auction have seen a correction of
around 10 per cent in the last one month that has helped steel companies
depending on it such as JSW to increase their production.
“In the last one month prices have corrected by around 10
per cent. Earlier the 63 grade fines was around Rs 2,700/MT whereas lumps were
around Rs 3,700/MT. Now both have corrected by around 10 per cent,” said a
senior official from Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee, which is
supervising electronic auction of iron ore in Karnataka.
The official added that the next auction would be held later this week in which
lower grade iron ore (50 to 55 grade) may see further reduction by Rs 50 to Rs
100/MT. Around 10 to 12 lakh tonnes of iron ore are expected to be offered,
said the monitoring committee official.
Bhavesh Chauhan, an analyst at Angel Broking said, “Availability of iron ore is
also the main reason why the production of JSW has gone up.” Mukund Steel too
has taken advantage of the lower prices of ore to up its capacity utilization
to 80 per cent from 65-70 per cent levels, said a top company official.
However, he said although prices of fines have corrected marginally but lumps
continue to be high due to the scarcity.
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