Indian private sector iron ore mines are carrying unsold stocks of an estimated 163 million mt primarily of low grade fines with 58 percent Fe content and higher, but below 62 percent, and unlikely to be liquidated by the end of the current fiscal on March 31, 2020, an official of the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI), the representative body of domestic miners, said on Wednesday, September 25.
The FIMI official said that such huge unsold volumes of low grade iron ore fines are not required by domestic steel mills nor could such volumes be exported in view of the high 30 percent export tax.
Of the total unsold stocks, the eastern Indian state of Odisha is carrying 94 million mt and Jharkhand is carrying 43 million mt.
The inability of moving such large unsold stocks at pitheads is hampering the current operations of these private mines and the carrying out of scientific mining operations, the official added.
The only option of monetizing these unsold stocks of low grade fines is possible through exports and only if the government lowers the export tax of 30 percent for Indian material to be competitive in a global market that is seeing a softening of raw material prices, the official said.