The ore-starved steel companies
in Karnataka, which had complained of high base prices at the electronic
auctions, have more than one reason to feel happy at the next round of
e-auctions.
The monitoring committee has not
only lowered the base price for the next auction, scheduled for tomorrow, but
also increased the availability of ore to 2 million tonnes (mt) from 1.5 mt
during each of the past five auctions.
The price of Iron ore fines has
been brought down by 10% from Rs 2,700/MT for fines and Rs 3,700 for lumps.
“We have lowered the base price
by 10 per cent on high-grade iron ore with 63 per cent Fe content at this
week’s e-auctions. We have fixed prices after taking into account several
factors like cost of production for miners and the prevailing international
prices,†an official in the department of mines and geology said.
A majority of steel companies,
including JSW Steel, Kalyani Steel, BMM Ispat and MSPL, among others, had
complained of higher base prices compared to the international prices during
the last five rounds. Some companies had even backed out of the last two
auctions.
For the November 16 auction, the
committee has also included ore from mines in Chitradurga, which is known for
low-grade products. Of the 2 mt coming up for auctions this week, about
500,000-600,000 tonnes would come from NMDC mines. The ore from Tumkur mines
would be made available for auctions very soon, the official added.
Source: Business Standard
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