The Indian Ministry of Steel said lately that the government may raise the iron ore export tax rate again from the current 20 percent, in order to secure the domestic supply.
The ministry revealed that in the past three years, the Indian iron ore production has reached as twice as much of the domestic demand. Thus, the government will not take the banning or rationing measures to protect the resource, but adopt a more suitable financial measure.
Based on the official data, during the 2010-11 fiscal year (ending March 31, 2011), India's iron ore output was 208 million mt, while the total consumption was 111 million mt.
Early this year, the Indian government had increased fine ore and lump ore export taxes from 5-15 percent to 20 percent.