The spike in steel prices is not justified and the increase in the steel price is outpacing iron ore price increases, said RK Sharma, Secretary General at Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI) on Wednesday.

“Most of the steel companies have the captive mines themselves. They have got no cause to say that the iron ore prices are rising. They have been exporting iron ore themselves, and so much so that they have been illegally exporting pellets also. So, neither the price increase nor the exports are coming in the way,” he said in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

Sharma said that lower production of iron ore in Odisha has led to a scarcity of iron ore. He believes that restarting the Donimalai Mine will aid in the availability of iron ore.

He further added that the domestic steel industry needs to focus more on value-added products.

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(Edited by : Ajay Vaishnav)