 "Exporters seek removal of iron ore duty")
Iron ore exporters, battered by a meltdown in global prices, have demanded complete waiver of export duty on all grades of the ore.
With iron ore prices plunging to $38 a tonne, a steep export duty of 30 per cent and 10 per cent export duty on iron ore up to 58 per cent Fe grade had killed the market for exporters.
Exporters led by the Goa Mineral Ore Export Association have written to the Prime Minister’s Office, urging it to remove the 10 per cent export duty on iron ore fines with Fe content below 58 per cent and the 30 per cent export duty on iron ore lumps irrespective of the grade. The exporters have argued that the proposal could fetch Rs 5,000 crore as revenue annually for the government. The Federation of Indian Mineral Industries has also backed the demand of the exporters. According to the association, major global suppliers in Australia and Brazil were flooding the international market with iron ore.
Goa produces low-grade iron ore (with Fe content of 55-58 per cent) which is exported to countries such as China and Japan. Goa’s iron ore is not consumed by domestic steel firms as the stock requires higher quantity of expensive cooking coal, which is mainly imported, and also because inland freight and logistics costs make it uneconomical.
Fimi Secretary-General R K Sharma said in his letter to Union mines minister Narendra Singh Tomar: “One cannot think of exporting iron ore with 30 per cent export duty. Iron ore miners are out of the international market for the last three years and it will be a Herculean task to revive exports but it (removal of export duty) will definitely be the first positive step.”
Fimi said there was a huge stockpile of iron ore in the country — 128.06 million tonnes. Iron ore stockpile in Odisha was 77 million tonnes while in Jharkhand, it was 25 million tonnes.
Steel producers have been battling a hostile environment and struggling to keep their operations afloat. They launched a scathing attack on the proposal of iron ore exporters.
“We must conserve our non-renewal natural resources as we have only four per cent share of iron ore reserves in the world and are producing about 10 per cent of global production. In case export of iron ore is encouraged with waiver/reduction of export duty for short-term financial gain, it would deplete our national resources at an exponential rate and adversely impact the future of value addition industries, impair the vision of attaining the country’s goal of production of 300 million tonnes of steel by 2020 as well as the sustainable mineral security of the country,” said Manish Kharbanda, executive director and group head, mines & minerals, Jindal Steel & Power Ltd.
With iron ore prices plunging to $38 a tonne, a steep export duty of 30 per cent and 10 per cent export duty on iron ore up to 58 per cent Fe grade had killed the market for exporters.
Exporters led by the Goa Mineral Ore Export Association have written to the Prime Minister’s Office, urging it to remove the 10 per cent export duty on iron ore fines with Fe content below 58 per cent and the 30 per cent export duty on iron ore lumps irrespective of the grade. The exporters have argued that the proposal could fetch Rs 5,000 crore as revenue annually for the government. The Federation of Indian Mineral Industries has also backed the demand of the exporters. According to the association, major global suppliers in Australia and Brazil were flooding the international market with iron ore.
Goa produces low-grade iron ore (with Fe content of 55-58 per cent) which is exported to countries such as China and Japan. Goa’s iron ore is not consumed by domestic steel firms as the stock requires higher quantity of expensive cooking coal, which is mainly imported, and also because inland freight and logistics costs make it uneconomical.
Fimi Secretary-General R K Sharma said in his letter to Union mines minister Narendra Singh Tomar: “One cannot think of exporting iron ore with 30 per cent export duty. Iron ore miners are out of the international market for the last three years and it will be a Herculean task to revive exports but it (removal of export duty) will definitely be the first positive step.”
Fimi said there was a huge stockpile of iron ore in the country — 128.06 million tonnes. Iron ore stockpile in Odisha was 77 million tonnes while in Jharkhand, it was 25 million tonnes.
Steel producers have been battling a hostile environment and struggling to keep their operations afloat. They launched a scathing attack on the proposal of iron ore exporters.
“We must conserve our non-renewal natural resources as we have only four per cent share of iron ore reserves in the world and are producing about 10 per cent of global production. In case export of iron ore is encouraged with waiver/reduction of export duty for short-term financial gain, it would deplete our national resources at an exponential rate and adversely impact the future of value addition industries, impair the vision of attaining the country’s goal of production of 300 million tonnes of steel by 2020 as well as the sustainable mineral security of the country,” said Manish Kharbanda, executive director and group head, mines & minerals, Jindal Steel & Power Ltd.
Steel industry in the country with a huge investment of Rs 5 lakh crore, is now the third largest in the world, with an installed capacity of 110 million tonne per annum. While the steel industry has made huge investment on value addition and employment, the merchant miners are making huge profits.