Despite representations from the Indian Ferro Alloys Producers’ Association (IFAPA), the Indian government is unlikely to reverse its decision on the scrapping of export duty on chrome ore, an official at the Ministry of Mines said on Friday, April 29. The 30 percent duty which was imposed in 2012 was scrapped in the national budget in February this year.
The representation submitted by the IFAPA seeking the re-imposition of export duty on chrome ore was forwarded to the Ministry of Finance, but no decision on reversing the budget decision could be expected, he added.
The IFAPA has pointed out that India does not have sufficient chrome ore reserves to meet demand from domestic ferroalloy manufacturers and the country is a net importer of the ore and scrapping of export duty will only make ferroalloy producers more dependent on imported ore.
The association pointed out in its representation that in 2014-15 India imported 242,000 mt of chrome ore and exported 94,000 mt of ore at a time when the export duty was in force. Now with the scrapping of the duty, exports will rise significantly, increasing raw material costs of imported ore for ferroalloy producers, the association said in its representation.