The Indian government has announced that, despite the continuous demands of domestic steelmakers for a curbing of iron ore exports, it has decided against the imposition of any such restrictions.
Justifying their decision, the Indian authorities stated, "As per available information, India has sufficient resources of iron ore, estimated at 25.25 billion metric tons, which continue to increase."
On the other hand, the government gave a clear understanding that it would not leave exports of such an important raw material without control, adding "Export of minerals in India continues to be guided by the EXIM Policy notified by government".
The statement on the issue of iron ore export limitations was issued a few days after India's Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers and Steel, Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan, announced that the country had set 200 million metric tons of crude steel as its target production volume for 2020.
The tension between the supporters and opponents of iron ore export limitation has been in evidence for quite a long time. On the one hand, steelmakers argue that due to expansion projects the industry might experience some shortages of iron ore in the future. On the other hand, iron ore producers claim that the country has enough reserves of iron ore to satisfy steelmakers' growing demand for this raw material.