BENGALURU (Reuters) – India’s state-run miner NMDC reported a first-quarter profit ahead of estimates on Monday as higher prices offset a decline in sales primarily caused by workers’ strikes.
Profit for the country’s largest state-owned iron ore miner swelled 20% from a year earlier to 19.84 billion rupees (about $236 million) for the three months ended June 30.
Analysts had estimated a profit of 16.35 billion rupees, per LSEG data.
NMDC imposed price hikes of iron ore in the quarter, analysts said, which hit bottomlines of steelmakers including JSW Steel and Jindal Steel. Iron ore is a key steelmaking raw material.
NMDC’s sales, however, fell significantly in two of the three months of the quarter, while production dipped in all three months, according to its monthly updates.
Iron ore production and sales volumes were affected by employee strikes, analysts at brokerage Prabhudas Lilladher said.
The miner has been facing significant disruptions in its production and dispatches due to an ongoing workers’ strike which erupted in May, BigMint, a commodities consultancy firm said in May.
NMDC’s revenue from operations fell marginally to 53.78 billion rupees. Analysts had predicted a revenue of 54.46 billion rupees.
($1 = 83.9250 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Manvi Pant in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Vijay Kishore)
