India: Karnataka Iron Ore E-auction Sales Up 13% in FY'20
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Karnataka has registered an 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.
JSW Steel's iron ore sourcing from Karnataka e-auctions up sharply by 29% in FY20-: India's major private steel mill and also the largest buyer of Karnataka iron ore increased its iron ore purchases significantly in FY'20 from e-auctions. In the fiscal year, FY'20 JSW purchased around 18.08 MnT iron ore from Karnataka e-auctions against 14.07 MnT in FY19. It seems that the company preferred domestic ore over imports as JSW Steel's iron ore imports moved down 96% in FY'20 to 0.37 MnT against 8.90 MnT in FY'19.
Out of 18.08 MnT iron ore sourced by JSW, NMDC supplied 5.69 MnT down by 12% against 6.45 MnT last fiscal (including nos. of Donimalai production till Nov'18) and thus contributed around 31% of total JSW sourcing.
Vedanta mines remained second-largest iron ore supplier to JSW Steel at 5.38 MnT in FY20, recording an increase of over three-fold.
Sales from NMDC fell 25% Y-o-Y -: NMDC sold 6.96 MnT iron ore via Karnataka e-auctions in FY20, less by 25% Y-o-Y against last year at 9.23 MnT (including nos. of Donimalai production till Nov'18). With operations remaining on hold in Donimalai, all the sales made were from its Kumaraswamy mines.
Iron ore sales from Vedanta were recorded more than double at 6.29 MnT in FY20 against the last fiscal at 2.46 MnT.
Buyer-wise allotted quantity of FY'20 iron ore E-auctions
| Buyer | Fines | Lumps | ROM | Grand Total |
| JSW Steel Ltd | 14,402,000 | 3,231,800 | 447,655 | 18,081,455 |
| BMM Ispat Limited | 1,300,000 | 12,000 | - | 1,312,000 |
| MSPL Limited | 1,228,000 | - | - | 1,228,000 |
| Rai Bahadur Seth Shreeram Narasingdas Private Limited | 385,776 | 119,000 | 160,530 | 665,306 |
| Minera Steel and Power Limited | 664,000 | - | - | 664,000 |
| Others | 2,598,171 | 4,909,697 | 576,807 | 8,084,675 |
| Grand Total | 20,577,947 | 8,272,497 | 1,184,992 | 30,035,436 |
Qty in MT
Source: GOK, DMG, SteelMint Research
Major highlights of FY'20 Karnataka iron ore e-auctions-:
1. Electrotherm India Ltd - a Gujarat based company bought 88,000 MT iron ore lumps (Fe 63.5-65%) from P.Balasubba Setty & Son (68,000 MT), Vyasankere Iron Ore Mines (16,000 MT) and rest G.G Brothers (4,000 MT).
2. Vedanta procured 378,000 MT iron ore, lumps (Fe 61%-65.25%) were 374,000 MT and 4,000 MT fines from Karnataka e-auction.
3. Western India based pellet maker - Jindal SAW bought 120,000 MT iron ore from Karnataka e-auction Out of the total iron ore lumps (Fe 63-64.5% grade) around 84,000 MT and rest 36,000 MT fines from P.Balasubba Setty (32,000 MT) and G.G Brothers ( 4,000MT).
4. Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - a public limited company was bought around 156,000 MT iron ore fines and lumps and Karnataka e-auction. Out of the total 32,000 MT fines (Fe 62.2%) and rest 124,000 MT lumps for 63.2% grade.
