The Minister of Steel, Mr Beni Prasad Verma has said that during the last three years, 2009-10 to 2011-12, rate of growth in real consumption on Compound Annual Growth Rate basis has been 10.6%. Data on real consumption of total finished steel in last three years is as under:
| Sl.No. | Year | Total | Change (YoY) |
| 1. | 2009-10 | 59.34 | 13.3 |
| 2. | 2010-11 | 66.42 | 11.9 |
| 3. | 2011-12* | 70.92 | 6.76 |
Source: Joint Plant Committee (JPC); *provisional
The total production, demand and export of iron ore in the country during last three years are given below:
| Year | Iron ore produced@ | Consumption | Export* |
| 2008-09 | 212.96 | 86.7@ | 105.87 |
| 2009-10 | 218.55 | 96.3@ | 117.37 |
| 2010-11 (P) | 208.00 | 111.4# | 97.66 |
| 2011-12 (P) | 169.66 (provisional) | 116.3# | 61.80 |
@- Source for production - IBM, Ministry of Mines * For export - MMTC, Department of Commerce, #- Source- estimates of Ministry of Steel
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha the minister said, the production of iron ore in India is in excess of the total estimated domestic consumption by the iron and steel industry. Therefore, overall there is no scarcity of iron ore for the domestic iron and steel industry.
He said that steel industry is a de-regulated sector and the prices of raw materials like iron ore for the steel plants are determined by the market forces. Recently as per Supreme Court’s Order, iron ore from the mines located in three districts of Karnataka namely Bellary, Chitradurga and Tumkur are being sold through e-auction to the end users.
The Minister said, in order to improve availability of iron ore to domestic iron and steel industry at affordable price, the Government has increased the export duty on iron ore from 20% ad valorem to 30% ad valorem on all grades of iron ore (except pellets) with effect from December 30th 2011.
Source - PIB
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