NMDC raises price of fines by Rs 100/tonne

The new prices would come into effect from the beginning of current month

State-run iron ore miner National Mineral Development Corporation  (NMDC) has increased the price of fines, the inferior variety of the steel-making raw material, by Rs 100 a tonne to Rs 2,910 with effect from the beginning of this month.

However, it has kept the prices of lump ore, the better variety of the raw material, at Rs 4,500 a tonne.     

NMDC, which fixes the price of the important steel-making input monthly, did not tweak the prices in January. The public sector unit had in December raised prices for both lumps and fines by Rs 200 a tonne and maintained the October price in November.

In October, it increased the price by Rs 100 a tonne.     

The decision to keep the prices unchanged for lumps, mostly used by domestic steel makers, is perhaps because of the subdued sales of the raw material during the current financial year so far. During the 10-month ended January, NMDC sold 24.28 million tonnes of iron ore, just 3.25 million tonnes more in the year-ago period.