IRON ORE: A new paradigm

Iron ore sector is in the midst of a major shift post mine auctions in Odisha held earlier this year in January.

- Sumit Maitra & Tamajit Pain

This was a landmark event as Odisha is the largest producer of iron ore followed by Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Jharkhand and Goa, which mostly exports its produce.

There were record bids for 21 merchant blocks offered for online auctions.

Steel producers like JSW Steel won four iron ore mines, ArcelorMittal won the Thakurani mine, with a premium of 107 percent. JSPL bagged the Guali mine after committing a premium of 144 percent.Most of the mines were won by steel producers leaving some mines for merchant miners.

Apart from the auction in January, demand for iron ore coming from the steel industry got impacted because of the pandemic. Then there is the recent rise in exports of low grade iron ore to China since the high grade ore from Brazil has turned expensive because of supply concerns, delegate present at the webinar, titled ‘Mine auctions – will it re-draw iron ore supply dynamics?’ organised by Steel Insights, said.

There is also offering of iron ore by Steel Authority of India which is influencing the market.

Aggressive bidding to harm merchant miners

The aggressive bidding that was witnessed in the iron ore auctions would put merchant miners in a disadvantageous position compared with the integrated steel makers due to the blending that they use leading to relatively lower rise in their costs post auctioning, said Mohit Ratolikar Vice President -Marketing (Domestic & Exports) Essel Mining & Industries Ltd.

Since 2015 about 43 iron ore mines have been auctioned off of which 22 are in Odisha having a reserve of 2330 million tons.