NMDC slashes iron ore prices by up to 20 pc

Coming under pressure from the domestic steel sector, NMDC today slashed iron ore price by up to 20 per cent for the remaining days of the current month.
The company reduced prices by Rs 200 per tonne for lumps or higher grade iron ore and by Rs 500 per tonne in fines to fix the prices at Rs 3,050 a tonne for lump ore and Rs 1,960 a tonne for fines, the company said in regulatory filing.
NMDC said these prices will be effective from April 18 till the end of this month.
The company was under pressure after it kept the prices unchanged in April amid a huge fall in global prices.

Recently, industry body Assocham urged the centre to reduce the prices to help domestic steel industry become competitive.
NMDC revises the price of its produce every month.

The company have been reducing iron-ore prices since February, but kept the April prices unchanged.
In March, the company had fixed the price of iron ore at Rs 3,250 a tonne for lump and Rs 2,460 a tonne for fines.
With declining iron ore prices and mining ban in mineral rich states, India which earlier used to be the world's third largest supplier of iron ore, saw a huge jump in imports to touch a record 15 million tonnes in 2014-15.

In the international market the price of the steel making raw material came down to a decade low of USD 47 per tonne owing to higher supply and subdued demand from China, the largest consumer of iron ore and producer of steel.
Analysts expect a further drop in the prices.