Ore price slips 5% more in China, 41% down in 1 year
SWANCY AFONSO/MINT, MUMBAI | 25 August 2015 17:49 IST
Goa is preparing to mine iron ore after a three-year gap just as the commodity plunges anew amid a global surplus.
The benchmark price of ore with 62% iron content at China’s Qingdao port fell 5% on Monday and is down about 41% in the past year.
Goa’s mines are due to restart in October, even as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. sees a drop of about 30% in global prices over 18 months on excess supplies.
“The ore is worth more inside the mine than outside,” said S. Sridhar, executive director at the Goa Mineral Ore Exporters’ Association in the state capital, Panaji. “With the present taxes and prices declining because China is buying less ore, exports are unviable.”
Goa, once the biggest shipper of low-grade ore from India, shut its mines in September 2012 over claims of rampant illegal mining.
They are opening again and targeting export markets despite a slump in raw materials as China’s yuan devaluation stokes concern that the global economy is faltering.
Taxes levied on the ore add to the challenge, especially compared with Australian shipments, India’s biggest competition, according to miner Vedanta Ltd.
“The government will have to look at all kinds of taxations,” said A.N. Joshi, vice president for iron ore at Vedanta, which reopened a mine in the state earlier this month. “We have to mine in a very soft way so that we don’t disturb the already oversupplied market.”
Goa’s shipments may drop to 10 million tons in the 12 months ending 31 March, 2016, from about 56 million tons in the 2012 fiscal year, the ore association estimates.
Stockpiles
The scope for aggressive extraction is also curbed by existing stockpiles. The state government has about 8 million tons of reserves left from the 19 million tons it planned to sell, according to the local mines department.
The price of ore with 62% iron content at China’s Qingdao port fell to $53.28 per ton on Monday. That compares with $106.46 at the end of September 2012, the month when Goa stopped the mines.
Vedanta’s Joshi said the company is talking to two mills from China’s Jiangsu province over sales of Goan ore. The customers are surprised by the timing, he said.
“It’s difficult for them to believe that there is a government which stops you when you are at the highest of the market, and allows you to restart when you are at the lowest,” Joshi said.
Drop a comment
Latest News
- 50% of Zuarinagar Covid positives are Zuari workers; should the factory be shut down?
- Verna IE spreading Covid all over Goa? Why Govt is so secretive?
- Jitendra Deshprabhu dies of pneumonia, eyebrows raised over his Covid negative test
- Did Nehru really delay Liberation of Goa?
- Modi isolates Pak, takes a dig at China, at BRICS
- Nepal to play 'dynamic bridge' between India and China
- Bankers suggest alternatives to BRICS
- Chinese state media slams West's 'bad mouthing' of BRICS
- Tibetan students protest near BRICS venue, against Chinese ‘aggression’
- Modi, Putin set to sign energy deals ahead of BRICS
Mining
- SC again stops Goa mining from 16 March, orders fresh ECs & recover dues
- NGT orders 25 miners to appear before MoEF, face closure threat
- Fearing another attempt of arrest, Digambar seeks interim bail
- Goa police summons Ex-CM Digambar in mining scam
- Dr Claude supports AAP stand on mining, with objections
- New SC order likely to halt mining of 40 leases, until…
- Centre to hold all-state meet in Goa on illegal mining
- Caurem tribals march to Panaji, approaching SC to expose illegalities
- Will Govt probe both Ravindra and Fomento, if it was a bribe?
- Was crop damage compensation to Caurem shown as extortion by Fomento?
