Export of iron ore may drop 50% on duty hike

Export-IronThe Government of India has increased the export duty on iron ore lumps to 15% this week. Earlier it was 10%. The reason behind such hike is to discourage exports so that the raw material availability for local steel mills can be improved.

Now this idea seems to be working for the Government of India, because it has been expected that there will be a huge decrease in the iron ore exports this month.

As per the market experts, the recent duty hike on iron ore lumps will pull down the exports of the commodity. There has been a steady decline in exports in the past four years as well.

Secretary General of the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries, Mr. R. K. Sharma has informed that the rise in export duty will have an immediate and major impact on the exports of the iron ore lumps. He has also said the federation is expecting that there will be around 5-6 million tonnes of iron ore exports this year which is even less as compared to the previous year. It is around a 50% drop from last year's figure.