It’s reported that India’s iron ore exports may decline by 50% in March as the demand from China have bas decreasing and the Indian government started to impose 20% export duty on iron ore.

Mr. R. K. Sharma, Secretary General of Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI) indicated that as the government started to raise the export duty of iron ore to 20% from March 1st, it’s estimated that the country’ iron ore exports would exceed 5 million to 6 million tons in March in comparison of 13 million tons in last March.

It’s known that India’s iron ore exports have been decreasing since last July due to Karnataka state government’s ban on iron ore exports.

In addition, Mr. R.K. Sharma pointed out that India’s mining companies and exporters would still face the pressure in the following months.

Meanwhile, India exported 85.40 million tons of iron ore in the first eleven months of fiscal year 2010/11, down by 18% year on year. Accordingly, it’s estimated that the country would export around 90 million tons of iron ore in this fiscal year in comparison of 117 million tons in fiscal year 2009/10.