India’s iron ore duty to quadruple

India’s iron ore duty to quadruple. India will quadruple export duty on iron ore fines as it seeks to curb exports, mostly to China, in a budget move that hit domestic producer shares and could push spot prices to new record levels. The world's third largest iron ore exporter wants to conserve supply for domestic steel makers, who play a vital role in building growing infrastructure. India plans to raise the duty to 20 percent from 5 percent on fines and to 20 percent from 15 percent on lumps. Fines are dust form ore with a lower iron content than lumps. "This will make the exports of (Indian) iron ore uncompetitive in the global market," said R.K. Sharma, secretary general of the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI). Almost all of India's annual 100 million tonnes of iron ore exports head to China. Its overseas sales compete with the world's top two exporters, Australia and Brazil. "This could tighten up the market further," said Henry Liu, regional head of commodity research at Mirae Asset Securities in Hong Kong. "This will increase the floor price for Indian prices and if Indian prices increase then that will push prices to China higher."