Tata Steel has emerged as the largest producer of iron ore in India during the first half of the fiscal, toppling state-run miner NMDC.

The company, which has six operating mines in the eastern states of Odisha and Jharkhand, produced 19.6 million tonne (mt) in April-September, ahead of 17.5 mt mined by NMDC, data collected by market intelligence firm BigMint showed.

Tata Steel is a captive miner that feeds its own steelmaking operations compared with NMDC, which having mines in Chhattisgarh and Karnataka, is a merchant miner selling iron ore to end users. Production of Tata Steel reflected a growth of 11 per cent over the same period of the last fiscal compared with an 11 per cent drop by NMDC.

In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024, NMDC had produced 45.1 mt iron ore compared with 35.32 mt produced by Tata Steel, which has aspirations to take iron ore production to 60-65 mt by end of this decade to meet a burgeoning steel production of 40 mt. The Tatas have acquired two new leases of mines —Gandhalpada and Kalamang — where mining operations will commence in the coming years.

Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC), a PSU of Odisha, came after Tata and NMDC as the third largest producer in H1, during which India as a country mined 139 mt iron ore, up 10 per cent over the same period of FY24. India’s iron ore production stood at 279 mt in FY24 compared with 256 mt in 2023.

JSW Steel, a late entrant into iron ore mining, recorded a 17 per cent growth in H1FY25 with production of 13 mt, one rank behind SAIL which produced 15.9 mt. The top 10 producers include a balanced mix of captive and merchant miners. While production showed positive bias, export of iron ore showed a 12.5 per cent decline year-on-year to 16.35 mt compared with 18.69 mt in H1FY24.

In FY24, iron ore and pellet exports stood at 47.83 mt. Data sourced from BigMint showed import by China showed a 25.6 per cent decline in the first half, recording shipment of 13.29 mt compared with 17.87 mt in H1FY25. The lower export reflected on Indian ports, especially Goa’s Mormugao, where cargo handled reflected a drop.

While Tata Steel came surprisingly at the top as an enterprise, Odisha came first among states in iron ore production, producing 81 mt ore, which accounted for 58 per cent of India’s production. Karnataka came a distant second with 20 mt, ahead of Chattisgarh with 18 mt.

Pact with Tenova

Tata Steel has signed a contract with an Italy-headquartered metals technology multinational to deliver a state-of-the-art electric arc furnace (EAF) as part of its green steelmaking drive in the UK.

Under the agreement, Tenova will supply an EAF with an annual capacity of 3 million tonnes of steel by melting scrap steel sourced from the UK.