Aggressive bids for iron ore plots at Paradip port may dent exports

Aggressive bidding in response to the recent round of auctioning of mechanical and manual plots for iron ore and iron ore pellets at Paradip port is likely to cast a shadow on export of the commodity, industry experts feel.

Iron ore traffic has witnessed a rebound in this fiscal from the major port, helping it to log 18 per cent growth by the end of December. Iron ore exports from the country touched 18 million tonne in calendar 2016, a six-fold rise over the previous year. Pellet exports also moved up sharply from 0.8 million tonne in 2015 to 5.7