India: Karnataka Iron Ore E-auction of Private Miners Receives Weak Response

MSTC had scheduled iron ore e-auction from Karnataka's private miners yesterday (21 Apr'20). The total quantity put up for auction was 223,895 MT, out of which only 4,000 MT quantity got booked, as per sources.

JSW Steel was the only buyer who bought 4,000 MT. As per the sources, the minimal quantity for Fe 59.2% grade was booked at the base price at INR 1,350/MT from H. N. Premkumar mines. Miner had put 8,000 MT iron ore fines for sale but only 4,000 MT got booked.

As per the sources, Karnataka e-auction received such a weak response due to the majority of sponge units continue to keep operations suspended.

According to e-auction data compiled by SteelMint, Karnataka has registered a sharp increase of 13% in yearly sales e-auction volumes in FY'20. Total iron ore allotted quantity in FY'20 was recorded at 30.04 MnT in FY'20 compared to 26.52 MnT in FY'19.