The Steel Ministry has ruled out shortage of iron ore for domestic steel and iron units.
Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma said at present, the production of iron ore in the country was in excess of domestic consumption and overall there was no scarcity of the raw material.
In 2011-12, iron ore production in the country stood at 169.66 million tonnes against the total estimated consumption of 116.3 million tonnes by domestic units.
In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Verma said the Finance Ministry had not removed the import duty of 2.5 per cent on iron ore lumps, fines and pellets. Some domestic steel makers had recently imported iron ore pellets and lumps in small quantities.
He said the total number of steel plants and sponge iron units in the country stood at 3,647 according to the last survey conducted by the Joint Plant Committee in 2009-10. Production from these units stood at 73.79 million tonnes in 2011-12. The private sector accounted for 77.5 per cent of the steel produced in the country, he added.
Replying to another query, Verma said SAIL proposed to supply 50,000 tonnes of soft iron plates for the India-based Neutrino Observatory Project, on request from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). Trial production of soft iron plates was taken up at Bhilai Steel Plant, according to the composition and process parameters decided jointly by SAIL and BARC and was found to be acceptable.