FIMI urges Centre to immediately put complete ban on illegal export of iron ore pellets

Miners' body FIMI has urged the Centre to immediately put a complete ban on illegal exports of iron ore pellets stating that such a move would help meet the domestic requirement of the key material used in making steel. In a recent letter to Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, FIMI also made a plea to the government for urgent intervention to introduce a price monitoring and regulation mechanism for sale of steel by integrated producers so as to ensure that there is no unreasonable hike in domestic steel prices due to any increase in international iron ore prices.

"We also request you to put immediately complete ban on illegal exports of iron ore pellets by private entities other than exports by KIOCL. Such a facilitation would lead to meet the requirement of iron ore of domestic steel industry to this extent," the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI) said. The steel sector has been facing an acute shortage of iron ore, which is a key raw material for making steel.

"It can starkly be observed that 9 million tonnes of iron ore pellets have been exported mainly illegally by the pellet manufacturers other than KIOCL. "Moreover, 62-64 per cent Fe (iron) is required for manufacturing of pellets. Had this illegal exports of pellets by private entities not been allowed, domestic steel industry would have met their requirement to that extent," FIMI said.