Odisha's Essel Mining Cuts Iron Ore Lump Prices - Sources

Essel Mining - a major iron ore mine in Odisha has reduced its offers for iron ore lumps by INR 200/MT (USD 3/MT). Revised prices will come into effect from tomorrow i.e 01 Jul'19. However revision in fines price could not be confirmed at the time of publishing this report. Company officials were not available to confirm the price revision at the time of publishing the news article.

According to sources, after the price reduced, its Jilling mines for 65% Fe calibrated iron ore lumps (5-18mm) stands at Rs 5,425/MT (USD 79/MT ) and 10-30mm stands at INR 5,025/MT (USD 73/MT) including royalty and taxes on FoR basis.

Odisha merchant miners kept iron ore offers unchanged in June. SteelMint's reference price assessment for Odisha stands at INR 4,000-4,100/MT (ex-mines) for 5-18mm and INR 1,900-2,100/MT for fines Fe 63%.

India's domestic sponge and billet prices plunged amid weak market fundamentals. SteelMint's assessment of C-DRI in Durgapur stands at INR 18,200/t (delivered) against INR 19,700/MT a month back. Following this sponge makers have slightly lowered iron ore lump purchases in last 1-2 weeks.

Essel Mining production increased sharply in the last fiscal year

Essel Mining has shown very promising growth and depicted a sharp increase in iron ore production to at 8.64 MnT in FY'19, up more than 2 times as compared to 3.7 MnT in FY'18. The miner resumed operations at its Jilling Langalota mines after it received permission from Supreme Court in Feb'18. The company owns mines in Odisha.