SINGAPORE, Nov 11 (Reuters) – India’s iron ore imports jumped to a record 5 million tonnes in April-October, industry data showed, as a deepening shortage at home forces steelmakers to turn overseas for the raw material.
Gathering momentum in Indian imports should absorb some of the global surplus of iron ore and help stabilise prices that have been hammered by slowing demand from top buyer China.
But analysts warned that shipments to India, a country that holds vast reserves of iron ore and which was once the world’s No. 3 supplier, would not wholly make up for the drop in Chinese appetite or fuel a sharp rebound in global prices from their lowest since 2009.
India imported 5.06 million tonnes of iron ore in the first seven months of the fiscal year ending in October, according to data emailed to Reuters by industry consultancy SteelMint. The firm tracked shipments from 17 major ports.
Data collected separately by consultancy OreTeam puts April-October imports at 4.9 million tonnes. Official government data only covers April-August, with imports totalling 2 million tonnes.
Mining curbs due to court action against illegal mining have constricted iron ore supply in India.
That, along with falling global prices, has stoked rising imports, which topped 2 million tonnes in October alone, said SteelMint, predicting the total for the full year to March could reach up to 11 million tonnes.
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