India’s Ministry of Mines does not feel it is necessary to implement any cap on domestic iron ore prices, a ministry official said on Tuesday, June 13.
The official said that there is an “adequate supply of iron ore for domestic steel mills” and that the ministry does not plan to go ahead with placing any pricing restriction on the raw material.
The official said that, in an open market as in case of iron ore supplies to Indian steel mills, expanding iron ore production is the best way to tackle market dynamics and sort out any micro-level demand-supply mismatch.
Previously, the Indian government led by the Ministry of Steel had mooted a price control mechanism for domestic iron ore, which included setting a price band within which domestic price of the raw material would be restricted.
It was pointed out by the official that domestic iron ore production was growing at 22 percent while domestic steel production was rising at eight percent, and hence there was no shortage of raw material at the macro level.