Increase iron ore production, reduce prices else face export duty by Oct 2 or export ban: Centre warns

The move would mark the government’s strongest intervention yet. business line has reviewed the minutes of the meeting; and spoken to multiple participants present across ministries, industry bodies and steel makers.

An export duty is already being considered on low-grade iron ore (with Fe content of 58 per cent or below) in 10-20 per cent range, which has put some industry bodies in a tizzy, sources said.

Despite an environmental clearance (EC) capacity of over 200 million tonne a year, actual output has been stuck at barely half that level, raising alarm as India pushes to expand steel-making capacity.

The FY25 iron ore production in India was around 290 million tonne (mt). Approximately 1.65 tonne of iron ore is required for making one tonne of crude steel. So for FY25, crude steel production was around 153 mt. Or around 253 mt of the mineral was used. Around 24 mt was exported. This meant there was around 13-14 mt of excess stock.

However, exports were close to 30 mt in FY25 (Lower than FY24 levels).