Indian Sponge iron manufacturers are hopeful that closed mines in Odisha and Jharkhand will resume their operations soon under the MMDR Act, which recently got approved in the parliament.
The approval of MMDR Amendment Bill, 2015 on 20 Mar’15 by Rajya Sabha has given a ray of hope to Indian Sponge iron manufacturers. The makers are hopeful for the resumption of the closed mines in Odisha and Jharkhand.
Earlier in May’14, the Supreme Court had passed an order to suspend all the mines, which had completed their 50 years of operations and were not renewed by the state government. However, the MMDR Act has given a transition period till 2030 to captive mines and 2020 to merchant mines.
As per the miners’ expectation, 18 Iron ore & Manganese ore mines in Odisha and about 8 Iron ore mines in Jharkhand are likely to resume their operations. These mines were used to produce over 20 MnT Iron ore per year before they were banned.
“Market participants are anticipating that closed mines will resume operations soon. We also expect domestic Iron ore supplies to improve in May or June,” said a Sponge manufacturer based in West Bengal.
Sponge iron prices in Central India have declined marginally owing to falling Billet offers in the domestic market. Current offers are hovering between INR 17,750/MT and INR 18,550/MT in the region.
Indian C-DRI Prices as on 26 Mar’15
| Region | Particular | Grade (FeM) | Price | W-o-W | M-o-M |
| North India | Mandi Gobindgarh | 78-80 | 21,300 | – 400 | – 500 |
| East India | Rourkela | 78-80 | 17,200 | + 100 | – 200 |
| Durgapur# | 78-80 | 17,700 | – 200 | – 1,400 | |
| Central India | Raipur | 80 | 17,750 | – 300 | – 1,800 |
| Raigarh# | 79-80 | 18,550 | – 800 | – 50 | |
| South India | Bellary | 75 | 16,800 | + 200 | – 500 |
| Bellary | 77-78 | 17,000 | – 300 | – 800 |
Prices in INR/MT
#Delivered price
Source: SteelMint Research
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