The global iron ore industry expects India's new government to open the country's mines and resume exports to China, a senior official of trading firm Radiant World said today.
"We have good expectations (of the Indian mines opening)," said Gopalakrishna Rampalli, senior vice president of the Mumbai-based company.
Reflecting the industry expectations, he cited the opening of Goa mines which were expected to ship 20 million tonnes (MT) of iron ore to China this year.
India's iron ore exports would boom to 110-120 million tonnes a year once the government opens up and allow exports from mines in Jharkhand, Chhatishgarh, Karnataka and Orissa.
"This iron exports will earn India as much as USD 15 billion a year in foreign exchange," he told PTI here.
He pointed out that Indian iron ore exports had peaked at 110 MT before the mines were closed.
Exports over the past three years have average at 15-20 MT a year.
Meanwhile, Radiant World has set up its global headquarters in Singapore with four international iron ore traders, the group Chairman Pinkesh Nahar said on the sidelines of the Singapore Iron Ore Forum, held on May 6-8.
The Singapore operations are supported by Mumbai corporate office and branches in Shanghai and Beijing.
Nahar said Singapore gave Radiant World the advantage of low corporate tax of five per cent, a pool of international traders, a quicker arbitration process and the network of iron ore traders as well as representatives of Chinese steel mills.
Comparatively, India has a high corporate tax of 30 per cent and Hong Kong 17 per cent.
"As such, Singapore is a preferred gateway to China," he added.
Nahar said Radiant World would be handling 7 MT of iron ore trade worth USD 600 million this year.
Last year, Radiant World supplied 3.85 MT of iron ore to Chinese mills.
"Our aim is to trade one million tonnes of iron ore a month and generate a revenue of US$1 billion next year," he said.
Radiant World currently sources its iron ore from Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, Marocco and South Africa and trade with Chinese mills.
