Iron Prices

State-owned NMDC on Saturday said that it has registered a 17.8 per cent increase in iron ore production at 4.62 million tonnes (MT) in February. The company had produced 3.92 MT of iron ore in the corresponding month of previous fiscal year, NMDC said in a filing to BSE. The company said that the figures are provisional. The iron ore production in the April-February period rose to 40.49 MT over 40.24 MT in the year-ago period, the filing said. The sale of iron ore in February was at 3.98 MT, over 3.99 MT in February last fiscal. Hyderabad-based NMDC, under Ministry of Steel, is the country's largest iron ore mining company. The PSU alone caters around 20 per cent to the country's demand for the key steel-making raw material. Since inception, the company has been involved in the exploration of a wide range of minerals including copper, rock phosphate, limestone, magnesite, diamond, tungsten and beach sands amongst others in some of the most remote corners of the country.

Thus far in the month of August, shares of Jai Balaji Industries have rallied 58 per cent

In a regulatory filing, the company said it has fixed the prices of per tonne lump ore at Rs 6,100 and that of fines at Rs 5,160 a tonne

While weak demand growth in domestic market saw larger players resorting to exports to cushion the Covid impact of the past 14-16 months, smaller players languished, the rating agency said

An unexpected surge in Chinese demand has sent global iron ore prices to a six-and-a-half-year high but export restrictions prevent Indian companies from taking advantage

All other base metals, fell by up to 12.3 per cent in 2019. Steel was almost flat, while thermal coal and natural gas were also among big losers.

Unlike integrated steel plants which use iron ore fines, pellets and lumps to produce steel, sponge iron makers in India mostly use ore lumps in their Direct-Reduced Iron (DRI) furnaces