Iron Ore Miner NMDC Raised Iron Ore Prices

India's largest iron ore miner NMDC declared that it raised iron ore prices by 5.22 per cent for the January-March quarter of 2010-11. The increase in price was determined by NMDC’s Pricing Committee that fixes the price of the iron ore on a quarterly basis. The measure was adopted in the backdrop of an increase in iron ore demand as well as a shortage in global supply. NMDC’s raising of price is likely to prompt domestic steel-makers like JSW and Tata Steel to increase prices.

For the April-June quarter NMDC had increased prices by about 90 per cent to USD 120-135 a tonne. In the subsequent quarter (July-September), prices were raised to about USD 145 a tonne. NMDC had then reduced iron ore prices by about 5 per cent in the October-December quarter of 2010-11.

NMDC produced 24 million tonnes of iron ore in 2010 and exported about 3 million tonnes of iron ore per annum to Japanese and Korean steel mills at prices that form the benchmark rate for domestic consumers.