Commodity Online
NEW DELHI : National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) on Thursday announced slashing of its long-term iron ore prices by a flat 25 per cent from December 1.

This move will benefit major steel makers of the country such as Essar, RINL, JSW and Ispat as it comes within months of NMDC enhancing the iron ore rates by up to 40 per cent with retrospective effect from April 1 this year.

The rate of iron ore lumps used in steel making will be Rs 2,650 per tonne from the previous Rs 3,710. Similarly, calibrated iron ore lumps will cost Rs 3,500 a tonne as against Rs 4,653 while iron ore fines will be cheaper by Rs 470 and available for Rs 1,970 a tone.

Other than SAIL and Tata Steel, which have captive mines, major steel producers, including Essar, RINL, JSW and Ispat Industries, procure iron ore from NMDC.

NMDC exports around 35 lakh tones out of its annual iron ore production of 3 crore tones while the rest is consumed by domestic steel producers.