India will not restrict iron ore exports - minister

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India does not plan to restrict exports of iron ore despite curbs on illegal mining, Minister of State for Steel Vishnu Deo Sai said on Monday, adding that there was still enough of the raw material for domestic steelmakers.

Court orders against unlawful mining over the past four years cut iron ore output by a quarter, to 152 million tonnes in the last fiscal year, dropping India to the No.10 spot from its earlier position as the third-largest iron ore exporter.

But Sai said iron ore output was still sufficient to meet the requirements of the domestic steelmakers.

Iron ore output in the year ended March 31 was 48 million tonnes more than local consumption, the minister told lawmakers. Exports, however, were just 14.41 million tonnes as a duty of 30 percent and high freight rates made Indian ore uncompetitive.

Given the softness in global prices and lower domestic output, India's No.3 steelmaker JSW Steel is importing 6 million tonnes of iron ore this fiscal year from Canada, South Africa and Australia.

JSW - whose second-biggest shareholder JFE Steel is the world's ninth-largest steel company and a unit of Japan's JFE Holdings Inc - says it may be cheaper to import iron ore than to buy it locally.

JSW is currently operating a 10 million-tonne-per-year mill at about 85 percent capacity in Karnataka, a state that is still the No.2 producer of iron ore despite the restrictions that have been placed on mining there.

JSW and other steelmakers have been hoping for some kind of restriction on iron ore exports as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during an election campaign, had criticised the previous government for allowing ore exports while importing steel.

India's steel output inched up 4 percent to 81 million tonnes in the most recent fiscal year.

(Reporting by Krishna N Das; Editing by Tom Hogue)