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Agitated over allegations of “cartelisation” levelled by steel industry associations against a section of miners through an advertisement campaign, Karnataka-based iron ore miners are preparing to retaliate in a similar manner. The Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI), an association of mining companies, is planning to launch a counter advertisement campaign. However, the issue doesn’t stop there. The steel industry on Monday filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court (SC), seeking a price fixation authority immediately.
“Steel industry associations have made baseless charges against miners. There is no attempt by miners to form a cartel and control iron ore prices. If one or two miners have quoted higher prices, it cannot be labelled as a cartel. We will reply to all allegations point by point through newspaper advertisements in two days,” said Basant Poddar, chairman, FIMI.
According to him, miners in Odisha charge Rs 7,500 per tonne for iron ore lumps, while in Karnataka they are sold at Rs 4,000 per tonne. While iron ore fines are sold at lower prices in Odisha, they are sold at little higher prices in Karnataka.
“This does not mean that Odisha miners have formed a cartel. Each miner has a different grade of ore to offer and he fixes price accordingly. I do agree that some miners have made a judgmental error in fixing Rs 5,000 per tonne of ore for a lot of 100,000 tonnes last week. But, it cannot be a measure for the whole industry,” Poddar said.
In a newspaper advertisement — jointly issued by Karnataka Iron and Steel Manufacturers’ Association (KISMA), Karnataka Sponge Iron Manufacturers’ Association (KSIMA) and Association of Indian Mini-Blast Furnaces (AIM) and Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC) — the steel industry said there was a need for an immediate intervention by authorities to save half-a-million livelihoods. “Reckless and illegal mining led to a ban by the Supreme Court.”
R K Sharma, secretary general, FIMI, held the steel industry responsible for whatever mess happened in the iron ore mining. He said the steel industry players colluded with illegal miners like Janardhan Reddy and bought iron ore illegally earlier.
Steel industry bodies have appealed the apex court to direct the monitoring committee to regulate the fixing/determining the lease-wise/grade-wise base price or align to the sale price fixed by the NMDC in line with the orders passed by the court in order on September 23, 2011.
“Our appeal before the SC is to appoint a retired judge of the court to head a price fixation authority to regulate the prices of iron ore until the situation normalises in Karnataka,” said R K Goyal, managing director, Kalyani Steel Ltd.
