NMDC's Q1 iron ore production rises 7%

State-run iron ore miner NMDC today said its production had risen by about 7% to 6.1 million tonne during the April-June quarter riding on the back of improved logistics and better weather conditions.

The company had produced 5.7 million tonne of iron ore in the corresponding quarter of 2010-11.

"At this time last year, the seasonal rains had played a dampener but this year we produced more as rains did not impact our operations that much," NMDC Chairman Rana Som said.

During the quarter, sales of iron ore rose by about 12% at 6.95 million tonne vis-a-vis 6.2 million tonne in the first quarter of last year, Som said.

"Sales volumes exceeded production during the quarter due to unsold inventory and increased availability of railway wagons," he further said.

Talking about the outlook for the current quarter, the NMDC chairman said that both, production and sales of iron ore will be exceeding the targets.

"In July, our production has been 2 million tonne of iron ore, while sales of the raw material has been reported at 2.3 million tonne. So we have already exceeded the targets for the month," Som said.

Asked about the prices of iron ore for the current quarter, he said it has been almost at the same levels.

The Navratna company, which supplies nearly 90% of its output to domestic steel companies like JSW Steel, Essar Steel, and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam, had produced 25.19 million tonne of iron ore in 2010-11, while its sales were at 26.33 million tonne.