NMDC continues downtrend on bourses as rising volume concerns worry Street

After soft volumes pulled down earnings in the first half of FY19, uncertainty on Karnataka production is keeping the Street nervous

NMDC, India's largest iron ore miner with an annual output of about 30 million tonnes (mt), continues its downtrend on the bourses post the 25 per cent decline in net profit reported by the company for the September 2018 quarter (Q2), and on worries over production volumes.    

For Q2, though realisations remained supportive and at Rs 3,576 per tonne were up 1.1 per cent sequentially and 24 per cent year-on-year, the decline in volumes (by 16 per cent year-on-year and 0.72 per cent sequentially) meant that revenues were almost flat year-on-year and sequentially. With operating expenses down just