NMDC to soon start pig iron sales from Nagarnar steel plant

NMDC has lined up a pig iron auction from its soon-to-be operational Nagarnar Integrated Steel Plant (NISP).

The blast furnace will become operational from 10 August, 2023 and the pig iron auction has been slated for 18 August, SteelMint learnt from reliable sources.

Earlier, SteelMint had reported that the BF would possibly start end-July.

Pig iron sales to continue for 3 months

The volume of pig iron to be offered in the auction would initially comprise around 14,000 tonnes (t). But, more importantly, it is understood that NMDC will continue to sell pig iron from NISP till its hot strip mill (HSM) is commissioned and commercial production of hot rolled coils (HRCs) starts. This would mean the plant would be in a position to sell 60,000-70,000 t of pig iron via auctions in the merchant market over the next three months or so - of course, till the HSM starts operations, sources informed SteelMint.

This would translate into an additional supply of around 200,000 t of pig iron supply in the merchant market over these three months.

It is also heard that the HSM is ready for commissioning but the plant possibly needs to check the quality of the hot metal before it can migrate to making HRCs.

Pig iron prices to drop?

India's merchant pig iron market is pegged at around 5.5-6 million tonnes in volume terms - around 500,000 t are traded on a monthly basis.

An injection of an additional 200,000 t will likely put pressure on pig iron prices in the short to medium term, SteelMint understands.