Iron ore major National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) looks like an interesting prospect. The public sector undertaking (PSU) has spun off its steel plant as a listed concern, NMDC Steel. It has hiked ore prices four times since November 2022, after removal of export duty, in response to strong trends. Overall, this is a 42 per cent hike in ore prices (averaged across fines and lumps) since November 2022, suggesting margin expansion and earnings upgrades in the fourth quarter of the 2022-23 (Q4FY23).
The hikes have been prompted by stronger seaborne ore prices and removal of export duty. China reopening and cutting its own carbon-intensive steel production has created export demand. NMDC’s prices are still at a considerable discount (30 per cent) to imports so there’s a margin of safety for the domestic business.
Volumes, though, are down and the share price hasn’t responded. In the 11-month period of FY23, sales volu
TO READ THE FULL STORY, SUBSCRIBE NOW NOW AT JUST RS 249 A MONTH.
Subscribe To Insights
Key stories on business-standard.com are available to premium subscribers only.Already a BS Premium subscriber? Log in NOW
Or
Also Read
NMDC
- NSE
- BSE
- 1D
- 5D
- 1M
- 3M
- 6M
- 5Y
- MAX