Indian traders hit by iron ore curbs exiting industry

[SINGAPORE] Top Indian trader MMTC's US$80 million iron ore export terminal, ready since 2010, has never handled a cargo. Now the company wants to spend US$16 million to convert the terminal to ship coal.

Bans on iron ore mining and exports in India's top producing states of Karnataka and Goa have choked the industry so hard that MMTC is one of many firms exiting. Even if efforts to fully lift the bans make it past the many bureaucratic and legal hurdles, iron ore miners do not expect complete resumption of production until late 2014.

The bans, put in place as the government tried to clamp down on illegal mining, have cut India's iron ore exports by around 85 per cent, or 100 million tonnes, over the past two years. They have also reduced foreign exchange earnings by more than US$17 billion in the same period, according to the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI).