(Reuters) -Indian state-owned miner NMDC on Tuesday reported a fall in fourth-quarter profit, hurt by lower product prices.
The iron ore miner’s quarterly profit before exceptional items and tax came in at 23.51 billion rupees ($275.56 million), down 3.5% from a year ago.
Its profit including tax rose 2% for the January-March quarter due to lower tax expenses.
NMDC’s iron ore prices averaged at 4,206 rupees, lower than the average of 4,299 rupees a year earlier, according to data from JM Financial Institutional Securities.
The company had announced a price cut in January, according to commodities consultancy BigMint.
JSW Steel, which primarily procures iron ore from NMDC, said earlier this month that a further drop in iron ore prices is expected in the first quarter of the ongoing fiscal year.
NMDC’s fourth-quarter revenue from operations rose 7% to 69.53 billion rupees, mainly due to higher sales in its pellets unit, which logged a nearly 13-fold increase in revenue.
Revenue from its iron ore vertical fell nearly 2% during the quarter.
($1 = 85.3180 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Manvi Pant in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas)
