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Journalism of Courage
Steel producers from Karnataka on Tuesday demanded that a price control mechanism should be put in place to contain cartelisation by the miners who have hiked prices by 122 per cent. The mining industry has termed the allegations as “weird” and “absurd.”
The steel makers and miners from Karnataka have been trading charges since the past one week on the issue of pricing of iron ore. The steel producers have accused private iron ore miners of resorting to “unjust and arbitrary pricing tactics” leading to an unprecedented and exceptional increase in the base price of iron ore. In response, the miners have said that it is the steel producers who have joined hands to manipulate the prices of iron ore bid at electronic auctions.
The Karnataka Iron and Steel Manufacturers Association (KISMA) said that private miners are acting as a cartel and hiking the mineral’s prices ever since they were allowed by the Supreme Court to sell their produce in April last year.
The association said that the base price of iron ore has risen at auctions where prices are fixed by private lease holders, while that of state-run NMDC has seen only a marginal increase. KISMA president Vinod Nowal said that state-run NMDC’s base prices of 61 per cent iron ore fines between April 2013 to January 2014 increased from Rs 2,035 to Rs 2,190, while the price fixed by certain private lease holders in the same period increased from Rs 2,250 to Rs 5,000.
Basant Poddar, vice president, Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI) alleged that private steel makers are trying to mask their inefficiencies by levelling baseless allegations against miners. Countering the allegations, PK Mukherjee, executive director, Sesa Sterlite said that nearly 70 percent of the iron ore is supplied by NMDC at prices which are low enough to help steel makers.
A senior steel ministry official told The Indian Express that in view of the allegations it would be prudent to have a regulatory mechanism to price and distribute ore. “We may have to approach the union cabinet to implement the mechanism,” the official said.
