The country’s iron ore exports surged by about 87.89 per cent in September to 6.25 million tonnes on account of an increase in offtake from Chinese steel mills. Iron ore exports in September 2008 stood at 33.28 mt, according to the provisional data from the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI). “The increase is on account of robust demand for Indian iron ore from Chinese steel mills. Also, the mills are yet to conclude supply contracts with Australian mining firms and thus are buying Indian iron ore from the spot market,” the FIMI Secretary-General, Mr R. K. Sharma, told PTI. Improvement in demand for Indian iron ore has also pushed up prices of the raw material in the spot market by $5-7 a tonne, he said. For the half-year ended September 30, domestic exports of the raw material increased by 13.15 per cent to 450.33 mt as against 397.99 mt in the year-ago period.
Source : Business Line