The demand for iron ore in India in the fiscal year from April 2019 to March 2020 is estimated at 194 million tons, in 2020/21 - 208 million tons, in 2021/22 - 224 million tons, 2022/23 - 240 million tons, in 2023/24 - 257 million tons, the Minister of Mining, Prahlada Joshi, announced in parliament this week.
According to Joshi, iron ore production is currently sufficient to meet the current needs of the domestic steel industry.
India produced 206.40 million tonnes of iron ore in 2018/19, up 2.73 percent from 200.9 million tonnes in 2017/18, according to the ministry. Among the main producers: production in the eastern state of Odisha was about 113 million tons, in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh - 35 million tons, in the state of Karnataka - almost 30 million tons and in Jharkhand - 23.43 million tons.
There are concerns about iron ore mining in FY2020/21 as most private tenants' leases expire in Odisha and Karnataka on March 31, 2020.
Federal law stipulates the need for auctions for the lease of minerals, held by private trading companies. So far, no effort has been made to conduct such an auction, which takes several months to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals.
An increase in India's iron ore imports due to such a shortage may affect the profitability of the metallurgical industry, since prices on the domestic iron ore market are lower than imported ones.
