India has iron ore surplus even after meeting domestic demand

New Delhi, Aug 22 (UNI) The Government today disagreed with the suggestion that the Iron ore from India was being exported unrestrictedly leaving huge gap between demand and supply in the country and said the country had ore surpluses left even after meeting domestic demands.

Answering a question of Vijay Mallya, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jairam Ramesh said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha that the government was aware of the fact that the demand for steel within the country was on the rise. The permission for iron ore with iron content upto 64 per cent with canalisation was given while ore with more than 64 per cent content was canalised through MMTC. There was less demand for lumpy ore from domestic steel industry.

To another question, the iron ore exports from various ports of the country was 237 lakh tonnes between April to June 2006-07 while the figure in the country was 227 lakh tonnes during the same period this year. The ore importing countries were China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Europe.

UNI