Muted steel demand in the domestic market and liquidity issues led to a steep decline in iron ore prices in India, according to state-run National Mineral Development Corporation Ltd.
“From November onwards, there have been certain liquidity problems in the domestic market, there have been issues with the steel demand... therefore, the prices had to come down in the month of November and December,” NMDC Ltd.'s Commercial Director TRK Rao told BloombergQuint. “That is why we had also done the price correction.”
The prices of iron ore were shooting up until October 2018, and started to come off only from November, Rao said, adding that the pricing scenario is on a “roller-coaster ride”.
The country's largest iron ore miner said its production would be impacted due the Donimalai mine suspension and that if the suspension is held over, there will be a significant improvement in volumes.
While Rao does expect the rising global prices to benefit NMDC, he said that the exports constitute a minimal 7 percent of the company's revenue.
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