India’s largest merchant iron ore mining company, NMDC, increased list prices of iron ore today, BigMint learnt from reliable sources. The company has increased prices of DR-CLO by INR 300/tonne (t) and fines by INR 400/t, effective 24 January 2024.
The miner fixed prices of DR CLO (10-40mm, Fe67%) at INR 7,220/t and those of iron ore fines (-10mm, Fe64%) at INR 5,310/t (on FoR basis from Bacheli complex). Prices include royalty, DMF and NMET charges.
Factors behind hike in prices:
Active response in NMDC’s recent auction: NMDC conducted an auction for over 96,000 t of iron ore from Bacheli, Chhattisgarh on 17 Jan’24. As per sources, the auction fetched active response and the entire quantity of DR CLO was sold out at a premium of over INR 1,000/t and fines over INR 500/t over the base price.
OMC auction fetched high bids: OMC conducted an auction for 2.8 mnt of iron ore on 19 January. Buyers participated actively, and almost the entire quantity of fines (Fe 54-65%) was booked at INR 3,910-6,050/t while out of 1.241 mnt of iron ore lumps (Fe 58-64%), buyers booked 1.048 mnt at INR 4,750-7,850/t. Bids for fines and lumps increased by INR 100-1,000/t and INR 50-550/t against bid prices in the December 2023 auction. The miner had raised the base price by INR 350-400/t and INR 50-250/t m-o-m for fines and lumps for yesterday’s auction.
India’s iron ore and pellet exports rise to a 3-year high in CY’23 – India’s exports of iron ore and pellets rose sharply to a 3-year high of over 44 mnt. Out of 44 mnt, around 33 mnt were iron ore – mostly low-grade as the export tariff on iron ore above 58% stands at 30%. Nearly 11 mnt of pellets were exported last year.