Despite the positives, volume and pricing challenges continue for NMDC

Prospects dampened by pricing challenges in Odisha and production stoppage at Donimalai

NMDC’s FY19 and March quarter volume numbers, though impacted by mining disruption in Karnataka, came better than expected. Analysts at Edelweiss said that NMDC’s FY19 sales volume at 32.4 million tonnes (down 10 per cent year-on-year) surpassed their estimates and attributed this to stable volumes in Chhattisgarh compared to last year despite Karnataka disruptions.

The company also benefitted during the March quarter from some improvement in domestic iron-ore prices after international iron-ore-prices gained momentum post Brazilian mining disruptions. Better than expected volumes and some realisations improvement is likely to help the company report decent March quarter performance despite challenges. The