India's iron ore production rises 4% to 158.4 mn tonnes in Apr-Oct

Iron ore production in the country rose 4.1 per cent to 158.4 million tonnes (MT) in the April-October period of the ongoing fiscal year, the government said on Thursday.

As per provisional data, iron ore production was 152.1 MT in the year-ago period.

Continued growth in production of iron ore in the current financial year shows the robust demand conditions in the user industry.

Coupled with growth in aluminium and copper, these growth trends point towards continued strong economic activity in user sectors such as energy, infrastructure, construction, automotive and machinery.

Production of manganese ore rose 11.1 per cent to 2 MT in the April-October period of the ongoing fiscal year from 1.8 MT during the corresponding period last year.

Production of bauxite rose 11.3 per cent to 13.8 MT in the April-October period from 12.4 MT in the year-ago period, the mines ministry said in a statement.

In the non-ferrous metal sector, primary aluminium production grew 1.2 per cent to 24.46 lakh tonne (LT) during the period under review from 24.17 LT a year ago, it said.

During the same period, refined copper production grew 6 per cent to 3 LT from 2.83 LT.

India is the second largest aluminium producer, among top-10 producers in refined copper and the fourth largest iron ore producer in the world.