SteelMint: Odisha iron ore fines index rises INR 300/t on tight availability

SteelMint's weekly Odisha iron ore fines (Fe 62%) index increased by INR 300/t to INR 5,350/t (ex-mines, including royalty, DMF and NMET) owing to tight material availability due to the monsoons and scant availability of high-grade iron ore.

SAIL conducted an auction on 6 Oct for 60,000 t of iron ore fines from its Bolani mines in Odisha. Of the total quantity, bids were received for 32,000 t offered at around INR 5,500/t (loaded, including royalty, DMF and NMET), according to sources.

A majority of miners continued to hold on the same offer. However, as per sources one miner is likely to resume offers next week.

Rationale:

• One lone deals was recorded this week from SAIL mentioned above and therefore considered as T1 trade and given 50% weightage in the index calculation for Fe 62% fines.
  
  
• SteelMint received twelve (12) offers, indicative prices under T2 trade in this publishing window. All were taken into consideration and given 50% weightage. To check out SteelMint's iron ore assessments, pricing methodology and specification documents Click here
  
  

Lump prices edge up - SteelMint's iron ore lump (5-18mm, Fe 63%) index rose to INR 9,800-10,000/t (ex-mines, including royalty, DMF and NMET). However, a deal was concluded for 10,000 t (10-30, Fe 62 lumps) at INR 8,500/t (ex-mines, including royalty, DMF and NMET) this week.

In another deal, a trader from Odisha concluded around 25,000 t of lump (5-18mm, Fe 62%) deal at INR 9,500/t (ex-mines, including royalty, DMF and NMET) this week.

Odisha market highlights:

• State-owned Industrial Development Corporation of Odisha Ltd (IDCOL) has issued a tender notice for sale of around 34,200 t of crushed and screened iron ore fines (Fe 55-60%) from its Rodia 'C' iron and manganese mine in Odisha's Keonjhar district. The due date of the auction is 18 Oct.
  
  
• The High Court of Orissa has asked miners contesting their minimum production shortfalls to pay in the interim a part of the claim without prejudice, until the next hearing.
  
  

Chhattisgarh:

NMDC lowered iron ore prices by up to INR 400/t ($5/t) for Oct'21: PSU miner NMDC has cut iron ore prices by INR 200-400/t ($3-5/t) for Oct'21, SteelMint learnt from sources. The miner lowered fines offer by INR 400/t and that for lump and DR CLO by INR 200 and INR 230/t, respectively.

FoR prices excluding Royalty, DMF & NMET

• NMDC's iron ore rake movements from Chhattisgarh were at 261 in Sep, down 25% against 346 in Aug, according to data maintained with SteelMint. NMDC's iron ore rake movements to Chhattisgarh-based units were recorded at 36 in Sep compared to 41 a month ago.
  
  
• At SAIL's iron ore auction for 36,000 t of concentrates (Fe 64.69%-65.02%) from the Dalli/Rajhara mines in Chhattisgarh, the total quantity received bids at around INR 5140-5,560/t (loaded, including royalty, DMF and NMET). However, 8,000 t of tailings (Fe 51.11%) offered at the auction remained unsold, sources informed SteelMint.
  
  

Karnataka floats auction notice for three more iron ore blocks : The Karnataka government has put three iron ore-bearing mines to e-auction, as per latest reports. The government is using the MSTC platform for the e-auction.
NMDC Kumaraswamy auction receives soft response:

NMDC conducted an iron ore e-auction on 5 Oct'21 from Kumarswamy mines at which 298,000 t was booked out 438,000 t.

• JSW emerged as the largest buyer at 104,000 t
  
  
• Iron ore lumps (Fe 60.32%) lot was booked at INR 4,374/t (basic, taxes extra), as against INR 4,616/t in last auction conducted on 23 Sep.