The Government has no plans to ban export of iron ore, said the Minister of State for Commerce, Mr Jyotiraditya Scindia on Wednesday.

The domestic steel industry has been lobbying for a ban on iron ore stressing the need to conserve the raw material to meet future demand. Consumption of steel is expected to grow to 200 million tonnes by 2020 from the present 70 million tonnes.

“There is no proposal to ban export of iron ore. At present export is being discouraged through higher export tariff and higher railway freight on export cargo,” Mr Scindia told Rajya Sabha in a written reply. Iron ore attracts an export duty of 30 per cent on the value on all types except pellets.

“Regulation on exports other than through fiscal measures may have an adverse impact of the development of iron ore mining as a whole. Stockpiling of iron ore fines would cause environmental hazards and increase the cost of lumpy ore used by the domestic industry,” the Minister said.

The Supreme Court has suspended mining operations and transportation of iron ore in Bellary district of Karnataka from July 29, 2011 in view of the over exploitation. Subsequently it has directed that no part of the iron ore output from Bellary shall be exported till further orders, Mr Scindia said.

Iron ore exports have dropped to 97.66 million tonnes in 2010-11 from 117.37 million tonnes in the previous year.

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