New Delhi, Oct 8 (IANS): In a signal of improving economic activity post lockdown, the country's largest iron ore producer NMDC has reported steady growth both in production and sales in the month of September over corresponding period last year.

The company registered iron ore production of 1.83 MT (Million Tonnes) during the month, a growth of 11 per cent against production of 1.64 MT in September 2019.

Similarly, iron ore sales during the month also registered a growth of 10.5 per cent in September this year at 2.11 MT against 1.91 MT in the same month last year.

The uptick in iron ore production and sales is in line with developments in the steel market where the metal sales has picked up in the unlock phases resulting four month continuous increase in steel prices.

"Since June 2020 the company is on a growth trajectory and will definitely keep improving in the months to come. Though 2020 has been challenging year, NMDC is consistently putting its best efforts to meet the demand of the domestic steel industry," Sumit Deb, CMD, NMDC said.

For the quarter ended September 2020, NMDC's Iron ore production stood at 5.63 MT against 5.29 MT in CPLY, registering a growth of 6.5 per cent and sales is 6.50 MT against 5.83 MT in CPLY registering a growth of 11.5 per cent.

The Bailadila Projects at Chhattisgarh has produced 1.32 MT in September 2020 as compared to last year production of 1.05 MT of iron ore in the month of September 2019, and has registered growth of 26 per cent in production. The total sales of iron ore from Bailadila projects in the month of September 2020 is 1.62 MT against 1.34 MT in September 2019, which is 21 per cent higher.