Ministry, miners oppose MMTC move to route all iron-ore trade through it

The PSU said it has the wherewithal to collect surplus production from mining areas, blend them to ensure quality and organize transport, handling and delivery by effective utilization of rail and port infrastructure for shipment in bulk carriers to the foreign buyers and no other single agency can do so. “In view of the above, there is a need to revisit the export policy to canalise the iron ore exports, irrespective of grades, through a single agency in the overall national interest. The negotiating leverage will also result in better realization to the mining industry in India,” the PSU says.

But the Steel Ministry seems to be unimpressed with the proposal and in fact opposed it saying it has no logical reason behind it. “No, we are not in favour of the proposal (put forward by MMTC) as we find little reason behind doing so,” Steel Secretary Pramod Kumar Rastogi told The Indian Express. He opined that after due deliberations, his ministry has inferred that it would be a needless exercise.

“MMTC with its monolithic structure and monopolistic mindset could not have risen to the occasion so fast and their performance till date shows they did not. What is surprising is that MMTC, a trading organization with all its capabilities, could not take advantage of the growing market whereas new and small traders had a flourishing business. To top this, other government companies like STC, PEC and even Spices Trading Corporation have entered this business and are doing well,” highly-placed sources in the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI), the apex body of miners, reasoned.