The Hindu : Business : Paswan seeks ban on iron ore exports

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Friday, Sep 29, 2006
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Paswan seeks ban on iron ore exports

Special Correspondent

`Fine quality iron ore is being exported to a country like China, which has huge iron ore reserves' Govt. to take a balanced decision on the issue

NEW DELHI: Union Minister of Steel and Chemicals and Fertilizers Ram Vilas Paswan on Thursday said that he had strongly recommended to the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister a ban on iron ore exports and emphasised the need for a long-term national policy on iron ore.

Inaugurating the `India steel summit: galvanising future growth,' organised by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) here, Mr. Paswan said he had already taken up the matter with the Ministers for Mines and Industry and Commerce,

Expressing the hope that the Government would shortly take a balanced decision on the issue in the national interest, Mr. Paswan said iron ore, a precious wealth of the nation, should not be allowed to be exported on a large scale and, therefore, his Ministry had taken up the matter at the highest political level.

He regretted that fine quality iron ore was being exported to a country like China, which has huge iron ore reserves.

Stating that India was ruining its iron ore reserves by massively exporting them, Mr. Paswan said if an immediate ban on iron ore exports was not possible, the Government should take measures to ban it in a phased manner.

"To achieve the targeted steel production of 110 million tonnes by 2019-20 as envisaged in the National Steel Policy, we should ensure that sufficient quantity of major raw materials like iron ore and coal is made available to steel producers. We have vast reserves of iron ore,'' the Minister said.

Further, he said: "It needs to be ensured that the reserves are mined in a scientific way so that the raw materials are available to the domestic steel producers at a reasonable price. At present, a debate is going on about the allocation of captive coal and iron ore mines to steel producers as also export related issues. Of the total iron ore reserves of 23 billion tonnes, about 923 million tonnes are of high-grade variety..''

Steel prices

On the issue of steel price hike, Mr. Paswan said his Ministry had no intention to raise the steel prices in the near future but if a situation arises, based on demand factor, the Government might resort to a moderate price hike in the long run.

R. S. Pandey, Secretary, Ministry of Steel, said, "The domestic steel industry has registered an impressive growth in production and consumption during 2005-06. In the current financial year, finished steel production has increased by seven per cent during April-August 2006. Similarly, steel consumption has also gone up by seven per cent during this period.''

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