India's iron ore exports surged by 38 per cent to 13.6 million tonnes in December on the back of rising demand from Chinese steel mills and incentives doled out by the government to boost overseas shipments. This compared with 9.8 million tonnes in December 2007 according to figures compiled by the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI).
However figures for the period from April to December dipped by 5.4 per cent to 64.4 million tonnes compared 68.1 million tonnes in the same period in 2007.
FIMI President Rahul Baldota attributed the dip in exports during the nine-month period to sluggish demand for the mineral in the wake of global economic slowdown as also higher export tariff of 15 per cent on iron ore lumps, which was later reduced to 5 per cent.
Mr Baldota said December's improvement was due to increased demand from Chinese buyers and the reduction in export duty and railway freight announced by the Indian government.
India annually produces about 207 million tonnes of iron ore of which nearly 104 million tonnes is exported. Of the total exports, the contribution of iron ore fines is about 85 per cent, while the rest is iron ore lumps with ferrous content of over 60 per cent.
Besides private miners, state-run mining giant NMDC exports 3.5 million tonnes of iron ore to Japanese and South Korean steel makers.
Source: Indopia
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