DOMESTIC steel producers are likely to announce a hike in steel prices with effect from Tuesday as galloping raw material costs including coal and iron ore eat into their margins. Domestic mining giant National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) has raised longterm contract prices of iron ore fines by 47.5%, bringing the price to Rs 1,783 per tonne. This move is bound to hit the bottom lines of steel producers hard making their demand for captive ore mines even stronger. This price hike is likely to be between Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 per tonne. “We will announce a price hike on January 1. NMDC has hiked ore prices by Rs 574 with retrospective effect from October 1, and we are reviewing the impact of this hike on final product prices. Prices are bound to go up ,” Seshagiri Rao, director finance of JSW Steel said. SAIL has decided a price hike between Rs 500 to 700 per tonne for various product categories.