India: Karnataka Iron Ore E- Auction Sales Hit 6-Month High in Sept'18
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Monthly iron ore sales volume in Karnataka e-auction has recorded six months high in September. Karnataka e-auction sales have further increased by 25% M-o-M in Sept'18. The total allotted quantity of iron ore stood at 2.76 MnT in Sept'18 compared to 2.21 MnT in Aug18.
JSW Steel's iron ore sourcing from Karnataka increased further by 7% M-o-M
JSW Steel's iron ore purchases from Karnataka e-auctions increased further by 7% M-o-M to 1.3 MnT in Sept'18 compared to 1.21 MnT in Aug'18. Out of 1.3 MnT iron ore sourced by JSW, NMDC supplied 0.48 MnT in Sept'18 and contributed around 37% of total JSW sourcing. JSW Steel's iron ore sourcing from private mines increased significantly more than two times to 0.82 MnT in Sept'18 as against 0.36 MnT in Aug'18.
NMDC iron ore sales decreased by 15% in Sept'18- NMDC's iron ore sales decreased by 15% M-o-M to 0.86 MnT in Sept'18 compared to 1.01 MnT in Aug'18. NMDC Kumarswamy recorded a decrease in its sales volume by 62% to 0.31 MnT in Sept'18 compared to 0.82 MnT in Aug'18 while sales from NMDC Donimalai mines increased by almost three times to 0.55 MnT in Sept'18 compared to 0.19 MnT in Aug'18.
Buyer-wise allotted quantity of Sept'18 iron ore e-Auctions-:
| Buyers | Fines | Lumps | ROM | Grand Total |
| JSW Steel Ltd | 576,000 | 421,000 | 300,000 | 1,297,000 |
| Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited Visakhapatnam Steel Plant | 212,000 | 68,000 | - | 280,000 |
| BMM Ispat Limited | 176,000 | - | - | 176,000 |
| Rai Bahadur Seth Shreeram Narasingdas Private Limited | 73,000 | 1,000 | 100,000 | 174,000 |
| MSPL Limited | 116,000 | - | - | 116,000 |
| Others | 272,000 | 416,721 | 33,000 | 721,721 |
| Grand Total | 1,425,000 | 906,721 | 433,000 | 2,764,721 |
Qty in MT
Source: GOK, DMG, SteelMint Research
Major Highlights of Sept'18 Karnataka iron ore e-auctions:
1. NMDC has increased base prices in Karnataka e-auctions twice in the month of Sept'18 for both lumps and fines. NMDC Kumaraswamy has increased fines (Fe 62.9%) base price to around INR 2,968/MT (basic) against last assessment INR 2,633/MT and lumps INR 3,550/MT (basic) against last assessment INR 3,254/MT.
2. Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - public sector enterprise purchased 2,80,000 MT iron ore from Karnataka e-auctions from NMDC Kumarswamy Mines and Vedanta Ltd. Out of total RINL purchased total 2,00,000 MT iron ore from NMDC Kumaraswamy and rest from Vedanta.
3. Southern India based pellet maker - XIndia Steel procured 12,000 MT iron ore fines (Fe 65.6%). It has resumed pellet production after almost 2.5 years.
4. Vedanta procured 20,000 MT iron ore lumps in August for its pig iron plant in Goa.
