India exported about 322.02 million tonne of iron ore, the vital steel making raw material, to China between 2005-06 to 2009-10, the Parliament was informed today.
"This includes iron ore exports of 87.02 million tonne to China in 2009-10," Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
Quoting the data of Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S), the Steel Minister said that India's iron ore exports to China has increased from 2007-08 onwards, when the total exports was at 58.95 million tonne.
Subsequently, the iron-ore exports to China in 2008-09 was at 63.34 million tonne and it increased by 37.38% in 2009-10 to 87.02 million tonne, Verma said.
Replying to a separate question, the Steel Minister added that the government has increased the export duty on iron ore to 20% from March 1 on all sorts of iron ore (other than pellets).
Talking about the Indian steel sector, Verma said that domestic companies currently have a production capacity of about 78 million tonne of the metal alloy and between April to December, 2010, the total production was estimated at 51.57 million tonne.
On the other hand, China's current steel production capacity is estimated at 770 million tonne and is estimated to have produced about 627 million tonne during April-December,2010, the Steel Minister said quoting reports of two independent global think tanks of the sector -- Steel Business Briefing and Mineral Commodity Summaries, 2011.
Verma added that real consumption of steel in the country was at 56.48 million tonne in 2009-10, against the availability of 63.75 million tonne.
The supply scenario includes steel imports of 7.29 million tonne, Verma said.
