India: Entire Quantity Booked in OMC's Iron Ore Lump Auction
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Odisha's state-owned miner- Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) had scheduled its iron ore lump e-auction today (24th Jan'20). The entire quantity put to auction of 520,000 MT iron ore lumps was sold. Bids moved up by upto INR 300/MT over set base price.
The iron ore lumps (10-40 mm) offered from Gandhamardan mines received bids (weighted average) at INR 2,653-2,681/MT. The entire quantity of 10-180 mm lumps were sold at INR 2,380/MT. The total material of 120,000 MT from Daitari mines received flat bids at INR 3,150/MT and lumps from Koira sold at INR 3,439/MT (weighted average).
Out of the total quantity of 520,000 MT, DR-CLO was 515,000 MT and remaining 5,000 MT was lump. Miner had increased the base price of lumps by INR 350/MT from all its mines against the base price of last e-auction conducted on 30th Nov'19.
Bid price comparison of OMC iron ore E-auctions
| Mines | Size | Fe (%) | Base Price as on 30th Nov'19 | Bid Price as on 30th Nov'19 | Base Price as on 24th Jan'20 | Bid Price (weighted average) as on 24th Jan'20 | Quantity Offered |
| (mm) | (INR/MT) | (INR/MT) | (INR/MT) | (INR/MT) | (MT) | ||
| Gandhamardan | 10-40 | 62% | 2,300 | 2,350 | 2,650 | 2,653-2,681 | 270,000 |
| 10-180 | 65% | 1,750 | 2,200 | 2,100 | 2,380 | 5,000 | |
| Kurmitar (Koira) | 10-40 | 62% | 2,800 | 3,050 | 3,150 | 3,439 | 125,000 |
| Daitari | 10-40 | 62% | 2,800 | 2,850 | 3,150 | 3,150 | 120,000 |
| Total | 520,000 | ||||||
Bid prices in INR/MT on ex-mines basis; including royalty
Source: SteelMint Research
Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) has completed public hearing for capacity enhancement for both Daitari and Koira mines, SteelMint learned from market sources. Also, the EC enhancement is in the process of approval. EC limit at Daitari mines is proposed to be increased to 6 Mnt pa from current EC of 3 Mnt pa. On similar lines, EC limit at OMC's Kurmitar mines is proposed to be increased from current 2.4 MnT pa to 6 MnT pa.
Almost all the miners from Odisha increased iron ore fines and lumps offers in the last one month, fines by around INR 600-700/MT and in lumps around 1,000-1100/MT (Ex-mines). If market sources are to be believed, few major miners have already made aggressive bookings in last month's as steel mills were actively restocking material ahead Mar'20 lease expiry. Also few mines are heard to have achieved EC limits for this fiscal. Hence, amid tight material availability miners are raising offers.
