India: Karnataka iron ore sales up slightly m-o-m in Sept

Karnataka registered a marginal increase in its monthly e-auction sales volumes in Sept'21. The total allotted iron ore quantity in Sept'21 was recorded at 2.44 million tonnes (mn t) as against 2.35 mn t in Aug'21.

JSW's iron ore sourcing from Karnataka up 19%: Purchases by JSW Steel, the largest buyer of Karnataka's auctioned iron ore, increased by 19% in Sept'21. JSW Steel purchased around 1.27 mn t of iron ore from the Karnataka e-auctions last month against 1.07 mn t in Aug'21. The company, on a monthly average basis, procures roughly 1-1.5 mn t from the Karnataka e-auctions for its Vijayanagar and Salem plants.

Out of the total 1.27 mn t sourced, NMDC supplied 0.45 mn t (down from 0.52 mn t in Aug'21), accounting for around 36% of JSW Steel's total sourcing.

Vedanta remained the second-largest iron ore supplier to JSW Steel at 0.40 mn t against 0.31mn t in Aug'21.

Sales from NMDC up m-o-m: NMDC sold 0.78 mn t of iron ore via the Karnataka e-auctions in Sept'21 against 0.93 mn t in the previous month, (including production from the Donimalai mines). NMDC's Donimalai mines sold around 0.41 mn t last month.
Iron ore sales from Vedanta were recorded at 0.48 mn t in Sept'21 against 0.50 mn t in Aug'21.

Buyer-wise allotted quantities in Sept'21 iron ore e-auctions

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

Highlights of Sept'21 Karnataka iron ore e-auctions

• Vedanta procured 36,000 t of iron ore, of which 20,000 t were fines (Fe 58.25) and 16,000 t were lumps (Fe 65%).
  
  
• Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, a public limited company, bought around 80,000 t of iron ore lumps (Fe 61%) at INR 4,909/t. The entire purchase was from NMDC's Donimalai mines. All prices mentioned are basic, taxes extra.
  
  
• Eastern-India based Electrosteel Casting Limited booked 16,000 t of iron ore lumps (Fe 64.38%- 66.3%) at the Karnataka auctions at INR 5,948-6,900/t.
  
  
• Western India-based Electrotherm booked 4,000t of iron ore lumps Fe 65% at INR 7,500/t from Vyasankere iron ore mines.