Govt raises ad valorem duty on iron ore exports to 30%

02 Jan 2012 Evaluate

A move, which could hamper the overseas sales of iron ore raw material, the government has raised the ad valorem duty on iron ore exports to 30% from 20%. On the other hand, this decision is likely to enrich the cash-strapped government and also iron-ore producers who can now choose domestic players rather than export, due to higher taxes.

Federation of Indian Mineral Industries’ Secretary-General R K Sharma said, the government has further hiked the export duty on iron ore to 30 percent on December 30. This will make Indian iron ore totally uncompetitive in the world market. By adding further he said, ‘iron ore exports are already down by around 30 percent during the April-November period of the current financial year over the same period last fiscal. It will be far more challenging next year.’

Duty on overseas sales of iron ore was raised for the second time in 10 months to increase the availability of the key raw material for the domestic steelmakers. The government had raised the export duty on both lumps and fines to 20% in the budget for the current financial year to check the random export of the key steel-making raw material and support domestic value addition.

India, the world's third largest iron ore exporter, had shipped 117.3 million tonnes of iron ore in 2009-10 and 70-80% of this was in the form of fines, which do not have many takers among domestic steel makers. In 2010-11, iron ore exports from the country came down to 97.64 million tonnes and in the first eight months of the current financial year, exports plunged by a little over 28% to 40 million tonnes compared to the corresponding period last fiscal.

Apart from the duty hike, the fall in overseas sale of iron ore was due to a number of reasons, including the imposition of a ban on exports of the raw material from Karnataka since July, 2010, following accusation of widespread illegal mining. Further, production of iron ore in around 45 mines in Goa has also been shut down due to environmental reasons. An informal export ban is also in place in Odisha.

Concerned over the ruthless shortage of iron ore after the ban on mining in Karnataka, Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma had written to the finance ministry last September for raising the export duty on iron ore to 30% to discourage exports.

 

 

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