Back NMDC needs to grow volumes; price hikes alone won’t be enough

State-owned iron ore producer NMDC Ltd raised prices by 2-5% from Tuesday. The latest price hikes are pretty much on expected lines given that the ongoing March quarter is seasonally strong.

Moreover, global iron ore prices are also on the rebound, which has a positive bearing on domestic prices. In March so far, global (Australia) iron ore prices have risen by nearly 4% month-on-month versus the February average, said analysts at Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities (India) in a report dated 20 March.

With this, NMDC has raised prices of iron ore four times since the government removed/lowered export duty on iron ore in mid-November. The price of NMDC’s lump ore and fines now stand at ₹4,500 and ₹4,110 per tonne, which is 18% and 57% higher respectively than the levels seen in mid-November.