‘13 non-operational mines have affected steel prices’: Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan

BHUBANESWAR: Union Minister for Steel Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday said scarcity of iron ore due to non-operationalisation of 13 mines has pushed the price of raw material with resultant effect on the steel prices in the market.

“Various factors contributing to increase in prices inter alia include increase in price of iron ore following its reduced availability with the production of iron ore in current financial year being only 112 million tonne (MT) up to November 2020 as compared to 152 MT during corresponding period last year. This was mainly due to non-operationalisation of 13 working mining leases in Odisha, post their auction in March, 2020,” he said.

In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Pradhan said the government has taken steps to ramp up production of iron ore and steel to increase their domestic availability to bridge the demand-supply mismatch leading to increase in prices of iron and steel in recent months.

In a de-regulated market scenario, the domestic steel price is determined by market forces of demand and supply, trends in prices of raw materials and is also influenced by global conditions, he added.