Mumbai: It is learned that after a proposal was brought before the government to ban the export of iron ore by small steel producers, the government is reimposing the export tax on iron ore to reduce the export of low-grade iron ore from the country. Considering installing. Of the country.
Most of India's iron exports are to China. India is the fourth largest producer of ore in the world.
Due to increase in domestic demand for steel, consumption of iron ore by steel producers has increased. In such a situation, small steel producers want to increase the availability of ore in the country. Due to high export demand, domestic iron ore prices have also increased by 30 percent recently.
Government sources said that opinion has been sought from the Steel Ministry regarding imposing export tax on iron ore.
To increase the supply of iron ore in the country, the government had imposed 50 percent export tax on iron ore from May 2022, but this tax was withdrawn after six months. Due to halt in exports the government was forced to withdraw the tax. A total of 3.22 crore tonnes of ore has been exported from the country in the first nine months of the current financial year. The export figure in the first nine months of the last financial year was 95 lakh tonnes.
Considering the pace of economic growth of the country, the demand for steel is also expected to remain high. While on one hand steel producers are demanding a ban on exports, on the other hand the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries has reportedly requested the government not to ban iron ore exports.
The federation claims that India exports mostly low-grade iron ore which is not particularly consumed domestically. But smaller steel producers are reporting using lower grade iron ore.