Steel Ministry seeks 20% duty on iron ore exports

The Steel Ministry is believed to have sought a 20 per cent duty on iron ore exports to discourage its shipments, which are primarily channelised to China, as part of its Budget recommendations.

"It is recommended that to prevent unabashed export of iron ore and to conserve iron ore for long-term value addition by the domestic steel industry, an export duty of 20 per cent may be levied on export of all varieties of iron ores," a top government official said.

The existing export duty on iron ore to is 10 per cent after it was raised from 5 per cent and that of iron ore fines to 5 per cent from nil last month.

Neither the Steel Ministry nor the Finance Ministry official could be contacted for comments.

Besides curbing exports of iron ore, the proposal also seeks to conserve the mineral for the use of domestic steel industry and also restrict illegal mining of the natural resources, the official added.

The country exported about 106 million tonnes iron ore in the year-ago period, of which a major portion was shipped to China.