Pellet manufacturers have expressed major concerns over insignificant dispatches of iron ore from auctioned mines in July, no stock clearance dispatches to old leases after September 2020, lots of auctioned mines having not started production even though leases have been executed and hike in prices by 35 per cent by existing non-auctioned mines in the last 15 days
Vice president of Pellet Manufacturers Association of India and director, ARDENT Steel Dr Subhasish Das said, "No supply has come to the market and there is a huge supply shortage due to which there is threat of imminent closure for a lot of our member plants and an overall threat to the already fragile steel industry which for the last 4 years is facing the maximum number of bankruptcies under IBC."
He said almost 90 million tonne per annum of production capacity (as per EC) was auctioned which works out to 7.5 million tonne per month. "Even if we consider 80 per cent as minimum despatches that the new mine owners were to dispatch, the total quantity despatched pro rate in July 2020 should have been 6 million tonne per month. However, to our knowledge total dispatch in July has been only around 33,000 metric tonne."
So the association has requested a direction from the Government to new lessees to dispatch 80 per cent of MDPA quantity, old lessees to liquidate their stocks, the running non auctioned mines to produce and dispatch as per 100 per cent of their EC capacity and start immediate procees for auction of further mines which are closed as well as virgin mines.