The mystery behind rising iron ore prices
Over the past couple of months, the steel industry has witnessed constant dialogue between iron ore miners and steel producers, aimed at reaching common ground on the availability of a key commodity for manufacturing steel—iron ore. While manufacturers of the alloy have gone up to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) seeking a ban on exports of iron ore citing sky-high prices, miners of the key raw material—whose pellets form about 60% of the cost of production of steel—claim that steel mills have been importing iron ore to suppress prices of the commodity despite huge stockpiles lying idle. Both sides have made sure to supplement their claims with data.