Indian govt turns back on reducing iron-ore export duty
KOLKATA (miningweekly.com) – India’s Finance Ministry has decided not to prune the iron-ore export duty from 30% to 20%, marking an U-turn on its previous stance and dampening sentiments in the mining sector.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram said over the weekend that there was no case for reducing the iron-ore export duty, without elaborating on the government’s change in stance on the issue.
Earlier, Chidambaram and the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had officials claim that the country needed to revive iron-ore exports to bolster overall exports, thereby increasing foreign exchange earnings and easing pressures arising from the current account deficit.
However, the Indian government had been divided on the export duty cut proposal, with the Ministry of Steel and domestic steel producers opposing the move based on sectoral interests, while various other Ministries such as Mines, Finance and Commerce favoured the move based on macroeconomic considerations.
According to the Mines Ministry, the duty cut would allow the country to push an additional 10-million tons of ore into international markets between October and March, even if the current mining ban in the two major producing provinces of Karnataka and Goa continued.
For their part, the Federation of India Mining Industries (FIMI), Indian miners and traders were hamstrung in leveraging the weak rupee since they were unable to plan mine production owing to uncertainties over duty rates.
Indian iron-ore exports have been falling steadily over the years in the wake of a ban on mining in key provinces owing to illegal mining and a high export levy.
Iron-ore production had fallen from 218.55-million tons in 2009/10 to 167.28-million tons in 2011/12. Exports were down from 117.37-million tons to 61.74-million tons. In 2013/14, iron-ore exports were unlikely to exceed 10-million tons, FIMI said.
Article Enquiry
Email Article
Save Article
Feedback
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation















