India exported 322 MT iron ore to China: Steel Minister - Business News - News - MSN India 03/03/2011
New Delhi, Mar 3 (PTI)
India exported about 322.02 million tonnes of iron ore, the vital steel making raw material, to China between 2005-06 to 2009-10, the Parliament was informed today.
"This includes iron ore exports of 87.02 million tonnes (MT) to China in 2009-10," Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
Quoting the data of Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S),
the Steel Minister said that India''s iron ore exports to China has increased from 2007-08 onwards, when the total exports was at 58.95 MT.
Subsequently, the iron-ore exports to China in 2008-09 was at 63.34 MT and it increased by 37.38 per cent in 2009-10 to 87.02 MT, Verma said.
Replying to a separate question, the Steel Minister added that the government has increased the export duty on iron ore to 20 per cent from March 1 on all sorts of iron ore (other than pellets).
Talking about the Indian steel sector, Verma said that domestic companies currently have a production capacity of about 78 MT of the metal alloy and between April to December, 2010, the total production was estimated at 51.57 MT.
On the other hand, China''s current steel production capacity is estimated at 770 MT and is estimated to have produced about 627 MT during April-December,2010, the Steel Minister said quoting reports of two independent global think tanks of the sector -- Steel Business Briefing and Mineral Commodity Summaries, 2011.
Verma added that real consumption of steel in the country was at 56.48 MT in 2009-10, against the availability of 63.75 MT.
The supply scenario includes steel imports of 7.29 MT, Verma said.