NMDC raises February fines price by Rs 100 per tonne

State-run iron ore miner NMDC has increased the price of fines, the inferior variety of the steel-making raw material, by Rs 100 per tonne with effect from the beginning of the current month.
In a statement issued today, National Mineral Development Corporation said," Accordingly, the price of fines for the month of February is fixed at Rs 2,910 per tonne."
However, it has kept the prices of lump ore, the better variety of the raw material, at Rs 4,500 per tonne.
NMDC, which fixes the price of the important steel-making input on a monthly basis, did not tweak the prices in January. The PSU had in December last year raised prices for both lumps and fines by Rs 200 per tonne and maintained the October price in November.

In October, it had increased the price by Rs 100 a tonne.
The decision to keep the prices unchanged for lumps, which is mostly used by the domestic steel makers, is perhaps because of the subdued sales of the raw material during the current fiscal so far.

During the 10-month period of the current fiscal, NMDC has sold 24.28 million tonnes of iron ore, just 3.25 million tonnes more than what it sold in the corresponding period of the last fiscal.
The subdued demand for iron ore is the result of poor steel consumption in the country. During the April-December period, India's steel consumption grew just 0.5 per cent, according to Joint Plant Committee, a unit of the Steel Ministry.

Production of NMDC during the April-January period rose to 23.23 million tonnes, just 2.52 million tonnes more than in the same period last fiscal.