India: Karnataka Iron ore E-auction Sales Volume Hit all Time Low in April
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Iron ore procurement fell sharply as steel mills either curtailed output or had their operations suspended.
Karnataka has registered 73% declined in monthly e-auction sales volume in the first month of the fiscal year FY'21. Total iron ore allotted quantity in Apr'20 was recorded at 0.54 MnT compared to 1.95 MnT in Mar'20. In the month of Apr'20 Iron ore e-auction sales hit an all-time low below the last lowest figure recorded at 0.78 MnT in the month of Feb'15, as per data maintained with SteelMint.
On yearly basis, iron ore e-auction sales down by 81% as against 2.9 MnT in Apr'19.
Southern India (Karnataka) based major steel makers kept the operations suspended last month due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Also, MSTC - leading PSU entity that provides e-commerce related services across diversified industry segments offering e-auction/e-sale, e-procurement services also postponed its services till the first week of Apr'20.
JSW Steel bought 94% of the material sold via e-auction in Karnataka-: India's major private steel mill and also the largest buyer of Karnataka iron ore bought 94% to the total iron ore sold in Karnataka e-auction last month. In the month of Apr'20 JSW sources around 0.51 MnT iron ore down sharply by 174% against 1.4 MnT in the month of Mar'20.
Out of 0.51 MnT iron ore sourced by JSW, NMDC supplied 0.45 MnT up by165% against 0.17 MnT last month and thus contributed around 88% of total JSW sourcing.
SMIORE mines remained second-largest iron ore supplier to JSW Steel at 0.06 MnT in Apr'20.
NMDC sales up 165% M-o-M -: NMDC sold 0.47 MnT iron ore via Karnataka e-auctions in Apr20, increased sharply more than two-times against last month at 0.21 MnT. With operations remaining on hold in Donimalai, all the sales made were from its Kumaraswamy mines.
Iron ore sales from SMIORE mines were recorded second largest with 0.06 MnT in Apr'20.
Buyer-wise allotted quantity of Apr'20 iron ore e-auctions
| Company | Fines | Lumps | Grand Total |
| JSW Steel Ltd | 336,000 | 176,000 | 512,000 |
| Srikalah Asthi Pipes Limited | 4,000 | 8,000 | 12,000 |
| BMM Ispat Limited | 8,000 | - | 8,000 |
| Akshara Industries Limited | - | 4,000 | 4,000 |
| Grand Total | 348,000 | 188,000 | 536,000 |
Qty in MT
Source: GOK, DMG, SteelMint Research
