NMDC slashes iron ore price by Rs 300 per tonne

Top iron ore miner NMDC on Friday slashed prices of iron ore by Rs 300 to Rs 1,800 per tonne as it faces subdued demand for the key steekmaking raw material. "We have slashed iron ore prices by Rs 300 a tonne. This is for iron ore lumps (higher grade iron ore). The new rates of Rs 1,800 is affective from today," NMDC Chairman Narendra Kothari said.

Kohtari said the company had to slash prices due to the prevalent subdued market situation. However, he said the prices for the fines have not been changed. The prices of iron ore fines have been fixed at Rs 1,560 per tonne. The PSU has reduced the prices of higher grade iron ore by 57 per cent to Rs 1,800 a tonne for the current month as compared to Rs 4,200 a tonne in January this year. Considering the global iron ore supply-demand scenario, analysts had predicted a downward revision in prices by NMDC. 

The company's sales during April-November period stood at 17.72 million tonnes (mt). Its production during the period stood at 17.50 mt. 

India's largest iron ore miner's production rose by just 1 per cent to 30.4 mt in the last fiscal ended March, 2015 against the year-ago period.