Chinese to ship iron ore via Haldia

Paradip may handle surplus volumes

Chinese steel companies are looking to use the Haldia dock complex (HDC) of Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) as the hub for shipment of iron ore from India.

Chinese importers are now looking at a long term agreement for iron ore shipments from India to avoid short term fluctuations in price of iron ore.

Some Chinese companies are also keen on setting up steel units in India, Weiyong, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Indo China Trade Centre (Beijing office), said here today at the sidelines of a steel business meet organised by Bharat Chamber of Commerce.

Representatives of 12 Chinese steel companies met Indian entrepreneurs at the meeting.

ICTC works to promote trade and investment between India and China.

Weiyong said Chinese companies were likely to chanelise imports through Haldia docks as it was the closest Indian port to Chinese ports. The Chinese delegation visited Haldia docks on Wednesday to examine the infrastructure there. "Chinese companies are keen to import iron ore from Orissa and Jharkhand rather than Goa because the quality of Iron ore in the two eastern states is much better, but there will be some export of iron ore from Goa too," he said.

The volume of ore may prove too much for the Haldia docks and so the Chinese companies may ship some portion of their ore imports from Paradip port as well.

Weiyong said Chinese companies like Anshaan Iron & Steel group were keen to sign long term contracts for import of iron ore.

Some other Chinese companies were interested in investing in India but the poort quality of existing infrastructure and negative government policies were causes of concern for Chinese companies, he added.

The Chinese team said they had come to India to see for themselves the ground realities in India and the level of infrastructure development.

The representative of 12 million ton Anshaan Steel, Jing Lei, said the company was also interested in exporting steel making technology to India.

Besides Anshaan, the other Chinese steel companies represented on the delegation included the Shougang group, Jinan Iron & Steel, Jianlong Iron & Steel, Shijiazhuang group and the Henan group.

Weieyong said besides steel companies, Chinese companies operating in other sectors were also keen to start doing business with Indian companies, particularly in sectors like pharmaceuticals and information technology (IT).

"A pharma delegation is likely to visit India later this month," he added.