SteelMint: Odisha iron ore fines index falls marginally, trade activities improve

SteelMint's weekly Odisha iron ore fines index (Fe62%) fell by INR 50/t w-o-w to INR 3,100/t ex-mines. Trade activities have witnessed an improvement this week. A total of about 128,000t of fines (Fe 62%) were recorded by SteelMint in this publishing window. A slight pick up in sponge iron prices seen in this week resulted in a few pellet players and miners raising their offers.

Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) had scheduled an iron ore fines auction in which out of a total of 1.55 mnt, only 89,000 t (less than 6%) received bids. Out of this, trade concluded at OMC's Daitari mines for around 48,000 t via auction was taken into consideration at INR 3,300/t ex-mines for index calculation.

Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) conducted an auction on 24 June 2022 for 40,000 t of iron ore fines (Fe 60% indicative) from its Barsua iron ore mines in Odisha. The base price for the material offered was at INR 4,650/t FOR, inclusive of royalty, DMF, NMET and the additional amount mentioned in the MMDR Amendment Act. According to the latest update, the auction failed to receive any response due to the high base price.

Rationale:

• T1- Total three confirmed deals for high grade (Fe 62%) was heard for around 128,000 t at INR 3,000-3,300/t (ex-mine, including royalty, DMF and NMET). Therefore, 50% weightage was given in this index.
  
  
• T2- SteelMint received nine (07) offers and indicative prices under T2 trade deals in this publishing window out of which three (03) were taken into consideration and given 50% weightage. To check SteelMint's iron ore assessment, pricing methodology and specification documents Click here.
  
  

Odisha iron ore prices:

Highlights from other states:

• Iron ore prices from Lloyds Metals, Maharashtra unchanged in recent deals: The miner's offers for lumps (5-18mm, Fe 63%) were recorded at INR 7,000/t FOR Raipur. As per sources, the miner has done a decent deal in this week for 5-18mm (Fe 63%) lumps at around 20,000 t at INR 7,000/t FOR Raipur. They also concluded deal for 80,000 t of fines at INR 3,500/t loaded recently.
  
  
• NMDC to auction 20,000 t of iron ore from Chhattisgarh: National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) has scheduled an auction for sale of around 20,000 t of Baila-sized lumps of Fe65.5% (indicative) grade material from its Bacheli mines on 28 June. The floor price is yet to be declared by the company and the material will be delivered on FOT (by truck) ex-mine basis.
  
  
• KSMCL's iron ore auction from Karnataka receives active response: Karnataka State Minerals Corp. Ltd. (KSMCL) conducted an iron ore e-auction on 24 June, 2022 from its Subbrayanahalli iron ore mine in which 66,634 t of material was booked out of a total of 67,240 t.
  
  
• The iron ore fines (Fe 61.46-62.21%) lot was booked at INR 2,346-2,431/t ex-mines, excluding royalty, DMF and NMET.
  
  
• The iron ore lumps (Fe 62.76-62.88%) lot was booked at INR 2,630-3,301/t ex-mines excluding royalty, DMF and NMET.
  
  

To know more about, Indian iron ore market outlook
Iron ore and pellets conference: SteelMint Events will be hosting the 5th Indian Iron Ore & Pellet Summit on 3-4 August, 2022 at The Lalit, New Delhi. The conference will discuss key issues being faced by the iron ore and pellets industry in India. The focus will be on market dynamics, policy-related changes, growth challenges and enablers, sustainability and decarbonisation goals, the way forward and many more talk points.