New Delhi, Apr 22 India&aposs iron ore exports have come down by over 50 per cent this month against the year-ago period and the trend of decline is likely to continue for another 4-5 months due to host of reasons, state-run MMTC, one of the exporters, has said.
"The exports of iron ore have declined substantially by about 50 per cent during April compared to the same month last year," MMTC Chairman Sanjiv Batra said, adding that"the trend is likely to continue for another 4-5 months due to declining prices, lower demand and effective global competition".
"The international prices have come down as the demand for iron ore has come down by 25-30 per cent, this has resulted in lowering of the production capacity," MMTC Chairman Sanjiv Batra today said here on the sidelines of the Festival of Gold.
India&aposs total iron ore exports stood at 100 million tonnes, of which MMTC exported seven million tonnes in fiscal 2008-09 and 8.5 million tonnes during 2007-08.
Meanwhile, the declining prices had positive effect on coal imports, as there is a a growing demand for the commodity in thermal power generation, Batra said.
The total imports of the country is about 50 million tonnes, of which MMTC has already purchased 5.5 million tonnes which is expected to go up to 15 million tonnes in fiscal 2009-10, he added.
Source : www.indopia.in