India: NMDC hikes iron ore fines prices by INR 200/t ($2)

India’s largest merchant iron ore mining company, NMDC, has increased list prices of iron ore today, SteelMint learnt from reliable sources. The company has raised prices of fines by INR 200/t, effective from 21 Mar’23.

NMDC fixed prices for DR CLO (Fe 67%, 10-40mm) at INR 5,820/t and iron fines (64% – 10mm) at INR 4,110/t (FoR prices from Bacheli complex, excluding royalty, DMF and NMET) with effect from 21 Mar’23.

Factors behind the price hike-

• NMDC’s iron ore rake movements from Chhattisgarh up 8% m-o-m in Feb’23 – Government-owned National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) recorded 461 iron ore rake movements from Chhattisgarh in February 2023, rose by 8.5% against 425 in January 2022, according to rake movement data maintained with SteelMint. This figure includes movements within Chhattisgarh and to other state-based units but excludes supply to AM/NS India through the slurry pipeline. Notably, a rake carries 3,850 tonnes (t) of iron ore.
• Active response in OMC’s iron ore fines auction – Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) has conducted an auction for 494,000 t of iron ore fines (Fe54-64%) on 16 Mar’23. According to market sources, 456,000 t was booked at INR 3,150-6,600/t. Bids have remained close to the base price except for few lots for which prices increased by INR 50-650. The miner had increased the base price for fines by upto INR 1,050/t compared with the auction on 17 February.
• Global iron ore prices up: Monthly average prices of benchmark Fe 62% fines moved up by to nine-months high around $3/t m-o-m to $129/t CFR China currently.
• India’s iron ore, pellet exports rise to 20-month high in Feb’23 – Exports of iron ore and pellets from India climbed to a 20-month high of over 3.8 million tonnes (mnt) in February 2023, as per SteelMint data. Export sales increased by over 10% m-o-m compared with 3.4 mnt in January. Shipments inched up sharply by nearly 80% y-o-y from 2.13 mnt in January 2022. While iron ore exports were assessed at around 2.8 mnt during the month under review, pellet shipments were recorded at over 900,000 t.
  
• Indian HRC prices rise m-o-m: Major Indian flat steel producers have increased their HRC and CRC prices in the range of INR 1,000-2,000/tonne ($12-24/t) with effect from 1 March 2023. Cost pressure from the elevated raw material prices and sustained upward momentum of global prices have propelled mills to take the decision, hinted a reliable source.