• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Our Bureau

Advertisement

New Delhi Feb. 26 The Railway Budget for 2007-08 has reduced the freight rate on all minerals including iron ore, limestone and dolomite by around six per cent. This has been done through reclassification of these materials from their existing classification of 170 to 160.

Simultaneously, the Budget has also proposed to drop the existing 10 per cent busy route surcharge on iron ore booked to sidings and goods sheds serving ports and introduces a new 21 per cent congestion charge for iron ore traffic booked to port sidings and goods sheds.

The steel industry is of the opinion that this would not have any impact in terms of a price reduction but indirectly may check an immediate steel price hike. Iron ore prices have gone up by 9.5 per cent during the past two months due to heavy export demand and the freight reduction can offset this impact partially.

The steel industry also feels that 21 per cent congestion charge for port bound iron ore traffic would not be able to curb exports since the overall net freight cost for port bound iron ore too would be coming down by six per cent.

More Stories on : Railway Budget | Minerals

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Railways not yet a threat to airlines

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line