This refers to the report quoting Vinod Nowal, director and CEO of JSW Steel Ltd, as saying that exports of iron ore should be curbed (“JSW Steel seeks curbs on iron ore exports,” March 13). First, we would like to clarify that iron ore exports consist of mostly fines or low-grade lumps for which there are no takers in India. This can be confirmed by official sources like the Indian Bureau of Mines that is under the Union mines ministry. With 30 per cent export duty and extortionate freight rates being charged by the Railways, exports have, in any case, become unviable. Second, it is self-serving of the steel lobby to repeatedly raise the bogey of a scarcity of iron ore resources. Steel prices are raised whimsically and have no link to any other factor. However, steel companies would like to get iron ore at depressed prices so that they can make super profits. According to the figures from the Indian Bureau of Mines, iron ore (haematite) resources of Karnataka have gone up from 1,680 million tonnes in 2005 to 2,100 million tonnes in 2010, after extracting 220 million tonnes during this period. What scarcity is the steel lobby talking about? The key is more exploration.
D V Pichamuthu Director,
FIMI, Southern Region
Letters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:
The Editor, Business Standard
Nehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg
New Delhi 110 002
Fax: (011) 23720201
E-mail: letters@bsmail.in
All letters must have a postal address and telephone number