India’s state run iron ore miner NMDC Limited has recorded sales of 1.38 million mt in April this year, down by 48.9 percent in both the monthly and yearly comparisons. Its iron ore production totaled 1.8 million, 38 percent below the corresponding month of the previous year, according to the provisional figures cited by the company in regulatory filings. Month on month, the output dropped by 34.8 percent from 2.76 million mt in March.
As SteelOrbis reported earlier, NMDC has shut down operations of its Bailadila mines (capable of producing an estimated 24 million mt of high grade iron ore) in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, in line with the national lockdown imposed from March 25. Weak local demand for the raw material led to the sharp price decline announced by NMDC in April.