BigMint is a Market Intelligence and Price Reporting firm that caters to the data and analytics requirements of businesses in the commodities sector. It publishes real time prices and information, which is impartial, independent and reliable, sourced from all industry interfaces – sellers, buyers, agents and traders. This data is filtered and passed through very stringent, calculative assessments before final prices are derived, thereby giving our clients accurate pricing.

Go to List

Karnataka: Iron ore prices drop w-o-w following NMDC price cut; further fall likely

...

Fines/Lumps

BigMint Bureau

61 Reads

9 Jan 2025, 19:54 IST

Karnataka: Iron ore prices drop w-o-w following NMDC price cut; further fall likely

NMDC reduces low-grade fines prices by $3/t

NMDC's 9 Jan auction to offer further clarity

Karnataka's domestic low-grade iron ore fines (Fe 57%) prices decreased this week in the Bellary region. BigMint's weekly index for the same stood at INR 2,950/tonne (t) ($34/t) ex-mines Bellary (excluding taxes), marking a fall of INR 100/t ($1/t) w-o-w.

Similarly, the Fe 62% fines index was assessed at INR 4,950/t ($58/t) ex-mines Bellary, including taxes, down by INR 50/t ($0.5/t) w-o-w. However, some offers were noted at slightly elevated levels of INR 5,000-5,300/t ($58-62/t) due to limited supplies of high-grade ore. However, prices were significantly higher when evaluated against current market trends.

The National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) revised list prices for iron ore auctions from the Donimalai mines. Post-revision, fines (-10 mm, Fe 58%) were priced at INR 3,537/t ($41/t), down by INR 268/t ($3/t), while lumps (10-40 mm, Fe 58%) were at INR 4,224/t ($49/t), down by INR 254/t ($3/t). Meanwhile, low-grade fines (Fe 57%) prices dropped by around INR 254/t ($3/t) to INR 3,340/t ($39/t). Prices are on ex-mines basis and include royalty, DMF, and NMET.

Following the new prices announced by the miner, a major Bellary-based miner stated, "The impact of NMDC's price drop is expected to be visible in the market within the next 15-20 days as trading activities commence."

In a similar vein, another miner from the region said, "The NMDC price revision could lead to a decrease in tags, especially since NMDC CG has already announced a reduction."

Rationale:

Zero (0) trades were recorded in this publishing window, and T1 trade received 0% weightage.

Twelve (12) offers and indicative prices were reported, out of which ten (10) were considered as T2 trades. These were accorded 100% weightage.

The market intends to closely monitor the outcome of NMDC's latest iron ore auction for clearer insights into price trends. Scheduled for 9 January 2025, the auction will feature 28,000 t of iron ore from Donimalai, Karnataka, including 20,000 t of fines (Fe 58%) and 8,000 t of lumps (10-40 mm, Fe 58%).

Karnataka iron ore sales scenario (2-9 January 2025)

Outlook

Domestic low-grade iron ore tags are likely to decline in the near term, driven by expected price reductions from miners. This development aligns with NMDC's recent price cut.