Jajpur: The Kalinga Nagar Industries Association (KNIA) has urged the Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) for reduction in the floor price of chrome ore.
In a letter to OMC Managing Director Balwant Singh, the industries body has claimed that the price of ferrochrome has come down to Rs 92,000 per tonne from Rs 1,02,500. The price is likely to fall further, said the KNIA.
The industries body has claimed that the ferrochrome industries in Odisha are suffering a lot due to the high and arbitrary floor price of chrome ore fixed by OMC.
The lifting of chrome ore has dropped sharply due to the high floor price. Only 2,500 tonne of chrome ore out of 32,600 tonne (7.5%) was sold during the e-auction March 15, 2021. Earlier, only 2,400 tonne of chrome ore out of 32,700 tonne (7.3%) was sold during the e-auction of February 10, said the industries body.
The KNIA further claimed that altogether 82,983 tonne chrome ore was lifted between February 16 and March 17. The lifting of ore has come down to 3,080 tonne from March 18 to April 3.
As per the KNIA, the OMC has missed the opportunity to liquidate its ore stock due to wrong KPMG (Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler) formula and high price. The mining corporation and the state exchequer have suffered huge losses due to lower dispatches of chrome ore.
The KNIA has requested the OMC to revise the formula and correction factor as suggested by the PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC). It has also urged the OMC not to add additional royalty on the chrome ore floor price. The chrome ore floor price is linked to ferrochrome price, said the industries body.
The industries association has requested the state government and the OMC to revise the chrome ore price formula and protect the interests of chrome ore based end-user industries in Odisha and the common public.
The KNIA has claimed that the Rohit Ferro-Tech plant at Kalinga Nagar has stopped its production due to shortage of chromites. Similarly, the ferrochrome units of Jindal Stainless and Visa Steel are also facing difficulties due to high prices of chromites.