NMDC Cuts High Grade Iron Ore Prices

New Delhi: NMDC, India's top iron ore miner, on Monday said it has cut down prices for high-grade ore by 5.5 per cent to Rs 1,700 per tonne as compared to the previous month.

However, prices of low-grade iron ore remain unchanged at Rs 1,460.

The prices of iron ore, with effect from July 3, 2016, have been fixed for lump ore (higher grade iron ore at Rs 1,700 per tonne), NMDC said in a filing to the BSE.

On June 2, the country's largest iron ore producer had slashed prices for higher grade lumps by 10 per cent to Rs 1,800 per tonne compared to May.

NMDC said the prices for lower grade iron ore fines remain unchanged at Rs 1,460 per tonne.

It had reduced the prices of the lower grade of iron ore by 12 per cent to Rs 1,460 a tonne for June 2016.

"The prices are excluding royalty, DMF, NMET, cess, forest permit fee etc," it said.

Since April, the state-run company has slashed iron ore lump prices by 14 per cent and those of fines by 22 per cent.

Last month, credit rating agency Icra had said that India's iron ore prices are unlikely to recover in the near future given the high inventory levels as well as increasing production.

The country's iron ore production in 2015-16 had reached 155 million tonnes, registering an annual growth rate of 23 per cent.

A bulk of the incremental production had come from Odisha where a number of mines resumed production.

Icra has estimated India's iron ore output in the current fiscal year to be in the range of 170-175 MT.