Monday, Aug 08,
In a move to ease the situation of iron ore supply shortages, state-run miner NMDC on Sunday said it is willing to “substantially” increase the raw material availability in this quarter to meet the rising demand.
Moreover, the company will take a decision on Tuesday, in consultation with the Steel Ministry, on modalities of raising the mineral supplies to steel and allied industry, said NMDC’s Chairman Mr Rana Som.
He indicated that preference may be given to customers having long-term contracts and that the company is looking at production of about 7 million tonnes of iron ore in this quarter, 15 per cent more than April-June period.
The move of the state-run miner comes in the back drop of an apex court order of Friday, which allowed mining of iron ore in Karnataka’s Bellary region to NMDC only and fixed the quantity at one million tonnes per month.
“We are gearing up to meet the demand and will increase supplies substantially to meet the shortages. We will take a decision on modalities of supply on August 9, after consulting the Steel Ministry,” Mr Som said, adding that “long-term contracts have to be honoured but modalities have not been decided yet”.
JSW Steel, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam, Essar Steel, Lanco Group are some of the companies having long-term contracts with the Navratna firm.
The partial lifting of ban may still not be adequate to meet the demand-supply mismatch for the iron and steel industry.
“The Supreme Court order will bring immediate relief for the industry in the region but it will not be adequate. Steel and allied industries’ total production is about 21 MTPA, which means 33 MTPA of iron ore or 2.75 MT iron ore per month is required,” JSW Steel’s Joint Managing Director Mr MVS Seshagiri Rao said.
He added that of this, JSW’s Vijaynagar plant requires 16.5 MTPA iron ore or 1.4 MT per month.
Source: The Business Line
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