FIMI has pitched for a drastic reduction in export duty on low grade iron ore to 5%from the present 30%,the current rate has rendered shipments unviable.
Mr RK Sharma secretary general,Federation of Indian Mineral Industries said that"We have requested the government to slash export duty on iron ore fines in the Budget to the level it existed prior to March 2011,at 5%."
Mr Sharma said that export duty on the key steel making raw material has gone up progressively from zero in FY09 to 5%in FY10,to 20%in FY11 and to 30%in FY12,adding that such high duty has rendered exports unviable.
He said that"The export duty of 30%on iron ore fines is deterrent to the effective functioning of the Indian mining industry."
He added that"The ratio of lumps to fines generation is around 30:70.So for every tonne of production of lumps,about two tonnes of fines are produced."
He further added that"Unless fines are evacuated from the mines,there cannot be further production of lumps for supply to the domestic user industries.This has resulted in a fall in production as mines pit are clogged with fines.Stocking of these fines for a longer period would create environmental hazards."
Fines,having low iron content,constitute around 92%of the total iron ore exports,which stood at 60 million tonnes in 2011-12,down 39%over the previous fiscal.There is hardly any domestic taker for fines in absence of the necessary technology to use them for iron making.But,fines are inevitably generated as coproduce while producing Calibrated Lump Ore,which are used by domestic steel makers.
