• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager
• Smartbuy

Stocks

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

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth
• Events 2007

Group Sites

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

Santanu Sanyal

Kolkata, Sept. 9 Iron exports through the three east coast ports of Paradip, Visakhapatnam and Haldia have sharply dropped mainly due to the slump in international price of ore, presumably caused by reduced Chinese buying.

The free-on-board (f.o.b.) price has dropped below $100 a tonne, it is learnt.

“Earlier, we were loading three ships a day totalling, on an average, 50,000 tonnes, but the throughput has dropped to 50,000 tonnes a week,” the Chairman of the Paradip Port Trust, Mr K. Raghuramaiah, told Business Line over phone from Paradip.

“In the first week of this month, there were no ore ships at the port.”

Mr Raghuramaiah said he had taken up the matter with the Shipping Secretary, who promised to look into it.

The situation at the Visakhapatnam port, according to the Chairman of the Visakhapatnam Port Trust, Mr K. Ratna Kishore, is no different as the loading of ore for exports has dropped drastically — from three ships a week to one ship a week.

The only saving grace was that the coastal shipment of ore through the port for Essar and others had so far remained unaffected, he added.

Haldia presents almost the same scenario. “Earlier, at any point of time, on an average, four ore ships used to wait for loading. But now we’re loading four ships a week,” said a spokesman for the Haldia Dock Complex.

“In August, we loaded around six lakh tonnes as compared to 7.5 lakh tonnes in August last year.”

China is believed to have cut down heavily on ore imports due to several reasons such as huge accumulation of ore — an estimated 70 million tonnes — at various Chinese ports and closure of a large number of small and medium steel producing units due to environment and other reasons.

The Olympic Games being over, the Chinese demand for steel too has ebbed, it is felt.

A general recessionary situation has led to a drop in construction activity in various parts of the world, particularly in West Asia, with the result that steel prices have dropped, entailing a cutback in steel production and reduced demand for iron ore.

There is another factor: The cost of iron ore exports in India has shot up following the jump in freight, covering rail, road and shipping, and imposts announced by the Government on ore exports. The high export cost regime in India has emerged at a time when Brazil, a major supplier of iron ore in the world market, has started re-negotiating rates with China. The price of Australian ore too has dropped significantly, it is learnt.

More Stories on : Minerals | Shipping/Ports | Exports & Imports

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

Copyright © 2008, 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