Iron ore exports from Andhra Pradesh ports registered a substantial growth during the first quarter of the current financial year.
While exports from Gangavaram and Kakinada ports increased over four-fold and 100 per cent respectively, from Vizag port it rose by about 100,000 tonnes during the April-June period of the current fiscal as compared with the same period last year.
Gangavaram port exported 5200,000 tonnes of iron ore, as against 120,000 tonnes during the 2009-10 period.
Kakinada Deep Water Seaport exported 600,000 tonnes in first quarter of current fiscal as against only 300,000 tonnes last year. On the other hand, Vizag port exported about 4.2 million tonnes of iron ore and pellets, which was about 100,000 tonnes more than the corresponding period last year.
However, the iron ore exporting companies expect a significant drop in exports by these ports in the second quarter of the current fiscal.
Port officials said ore dispatches from Bellary and Hospet had seen a decline over the illegal iron ore mining issue in both Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh over the last few weeks. Ore arrivals from Bailadilla mines to Vizag and Gangavaram ports too had declined due to naxal problems in Orissa and Chhattisgarh.
“Apart from this, Chinese iron ore companies expect the prices to fall and hence have slowed down the imports from India,” they said.