NMDC keeps May iron ore prices unchanged

NEW DELHI: State-run miner NMDC today decided to keep the prices of iron ore unchanged for the current month after slashing the price of higher grade iron ore (lumps) six times since last October.

"The company Board, in its meeting in Hyderabad today has decided to retain the prices for the current month at the prevailing level," a company official told PTI.

NMDC had lowered the price of lumps by about seven per cent last month and 2.5 per cent in February. It did not tweak the prices of fines (having iron content of less than 60 per cent) for some time.

The company currently sells iron ore lumps in the range between Rs 4,600 and Rs 4,700 per tonne, while fines are being sold at Rs 2,610 per tonne.

Since October, NMDC, the largest domestic producer of iron ore has either reduced the iron ore prices on a monthly basis or kept them unchanged as demand has been subdued.

It was being speculated that the state-owned miner may bring down the price of the steel-making raw material in sync with the international prices of iron ore, which has softened in recent times to USD 130 per tonne against USD 145 per tonne in not-so-distant past.

In terms of quantity, NMDC's sales of iron ore had declined by 17 per cent to 5.3 million tonnes (MT) in the third quarter of 2012-13, while the production was down 25 per cent at 5.4 MT during the period.

The company has a total production capacity of 32 MT per annum at its mines in Chhattisgarh and Karnataka.