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India: Karnataka iron ore e-auction sales volume up 8% in Jul'21

Karnataka registered an 8% m-o-m rise in its monthly e-auction sales volumes in Jul’21. The total allotted iron ore quantity in Jul’21 was recorded at...

Fines/Lumps

BigMint Bureau

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9 Aug 2021, 18:27 IST

India: Karnataka iron ore e-auction sales volume up 8% in Jul'21

Karnataka registered an 8% m-o-m rise in its monthly e-auction sales volumes in Jul'21. The total allotted iron ore quantity in Jul'21 was recorded at 2.69 mn t as against 2.49 million tonnes (mn t) in Jun'21.Restocking ahead of monsoons have lifted iron ore sales volumes in July auction, sources highlighted.

JSW's iron ore sourcing from Karnataka rebounds:Purchases by JSW Steel, the largest buyer of Karnataka's auctioned iron ore, rose 33% in Jul'21. JSW Steel purchased around 1.3 mn t of iron ore from the Karnataka e-auctions in Jul'21 against 0.98 mn t in Jun'21. The company, on monthly average basis, procures roughly 1-1.5 mn t from the Karnataka e-auctions for its Vijayanagar and Salem plants.

Out of the 1.3 mn t sourced, NMDC supplied 0.48 mn t (up from 0.42 mn t in Jun'21), accounting for around 37% of the total JSW Steel sourcing.

Vedanta remained the second-largest iron ore supplier to JSW Steel at 0.35 mn t against 0.21mn t in Jun'21.

According to sources, JSW Steel is planning a maintenance shutdown of its hot strip mill-1 (HSM-1) at its Vijayanagar plant for 40-50 days. HSM-1 will be operated at 50% capacity for two months and 50% will remain shut from 15 Jul-15 Sept '21. This is likely to lower the company's raw material requirements as well.

Eastern India-based plants actively participate:Eastern region-based plants actively participated in the Karnataka e-auctions. Eastern India-based Orissa Metaliks procured 48,000 t of iron ore fines (62.8-66%) and 56,000 t of iron ore lumps (61.5-66%) in July. In addition, Electrosteel Steels booked 20,000 t of iron ore in the July Karnataka auctions.

Sales from NMDC stable m-o-m:NMDC sold 0.79 mn t of iron ore via the Karnataka e-auctions in July'21, against 0.78 mn t in the previous month, (including production from the Donimalai mines). NMDC's Donimalai mines sold around 0.36 mn t last month.
Iron ore sales from Vedanta were recorded at 0.43 mn t in Jul'21, against 0.28 mn t in Jun'21.

Buyer-wise allotted quantity in Jul'21 iron ore e-auctions

Qty in tonnes (t)
Source: GOK, DMG, SteelMint Research
All prices mentioned are basic, taxes extra

Highlights of Jul'21 Karnataka iron ore e-auctions:

Vedanta procured 36,000 tonnes (t) of iron ore, of which 4,000 t were fines (Fe 62.78) and 32,000 t were lumps (Fe 63.67%-65%).
Western India-based pellet maker Jindal SAW bought 12,000 t of iron ore fines (Fe 62.78) and 20,000 t of iron ore lumps (Fe 63.67-65%). The entire purchases done by the pellet maker were from private miners.
Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, a public limited company, bought around 52,000 t of iron ore lumps of Fe 61% from NMDC Donimalai at INR 6,178/t. All prices mentioned are basic, taxes extra.