The Minister of Steel, Shri Beni Prasad Verma has said that as per information available in the Ministry of Steel, there are about 431 number of Sponge Iron Plants set up across the country including Chhattisgarh (Source: Annual Statistics of JPC for the year 2010-11).
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha today he said, National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) supplies iron ore to some of the Sponge Iron Units in the country and it is not the sole supplier of iron ore to these units.
During the year 2011-12, NMDC supplied 54.99 lakh tonnes of iron ore to various Sponge Iron Manufacturers from its mines in Chhattisgarh. The iron ore produced by NMDC from its mines in Karnataka is e-auctioned to consumers as per directions of the Supreme Court since September 2011. During 2011-12 iron ore production in the country was about 167 million tonnes (Provisional as per IBM) which was more than the consumption of iron ore in the country during the year. NMDC has planned to increase its iron ore production from the existing capacity of 32 MTPA to 45 MTPA by the year 2014-15. To ensure better availability to the domestic consumers, a high rate of Customs Duty of 30% has been imposed on the export of all kinds of iron ore (except pellets).
Shri Verma said, Steel is a deregulated sector and a steel producer may source iron ore from anywhere in the country. Ministry of Steel does not keep records about sourcing of iron ore by various steel producers including the secondary sector. No instance of ban on transportation of iron ore by the State of Odisha has come to the notice of this Ministry.