Iron ore exports fell 52% in 2013

Fifth year of fall; India slips below 10th rank in global list; some improvement likely this year in volumes

Continuing a downward trend for a fifth year in a row, India's iron ore exports declined 52.5 per cent to 14.1 million tonnes for the calendar year 2013 (CY13).

This includes 820,000 tonnes of iron ore pellets. In CY2012, exports were 29.7 mt. The export in 2013 was a tenth of the peak seen in 2009. India is now the 10th largest exporter, from fourth the previous year, in the world.

China is the world's largest consumer of iron ore; 80-90 per cent of global export goes there.

The decline in 2013 was mainly due to the absence of Goa as compared to the previous year. Mining and transportation Goa was suspended there in the second half of 2012, on a direction of the Supreme Court. The continuing ban on export from Karnataka added to the drop.

"From 2014, the situation might improve but not dramatically. With more caps and bans on production and exports India might never regain its Number 3 ranking in the global export market," according to Delhi-based OreTeam Exim Pvt Ltd, which tracks the industry.

CY 2013 also saw India's ranking going below 10th on the global list of exporters of iron ore to China. Till 2011, India was behind only Australia and Brazil, both exporting 90-95 per cent of their surplus to the China. In 2012, we slipped to fourth position, behind South Africa. In 2013, India pushed out of the top 10; Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia and Canada were among those which overtook us in the export market, said Prakash Duvvuri, head of research, OreTeam.

"However, we expect Goan iron ore to rejoin the export race in 2014, giving some lift to the volumes," he said.

On the other hand, the Indian ore pellet export market is likely to remain flat in 2014. Essar, JSPL, Ardent, Stemcor and GPIL are concentrating equally on the export and domestic market. This will ensure some of the pellet volumes are diverted to China and Japan, he added.

"India's steel consumption and demand growth is unlikely to witness sharp growth to absorb the raw material completely within the country, also one of the prime factors to note in 2014. With a modest growth expected in the steel sector, keeping in view the change of guard at the Centre, it is highly unlikely that any major decisions would break ground in at least in the first half of CY2014," Duvvuri said.

On the Chinese and Japanese front, the demand for Indian iron ore and ore pellets will remain till our exporters have the capability to provide them the material, he added.