State controlled trading company MMTC has invited tenders from overseas buyers to export 100,000 tonnes of metallurgical grade bauxite. The bauxite of Indian origin, is meant to be dispatched through Okha port in Gujarat.
The shipment period of the consignment is scheduled in January/February 2019. A bidder to be eligible for the tenders, needs to have a minimum turnover of $3 million in the last financial year and a net worth of at least $1 million on the last balance sheet.
India’s bauxite exports in calendar 2018 are projected to drop by around 53% year-on-year to 1.2 MnT from the level of 2.6 MnT in 2017. The estimates of the Ministry of Commerce are as per the export data averaging over the last five years.
However, Aluminium Association of India thinks this quantity should further shrink in order to support more value-addition of the aluminium ore within the country.
The industry body recently approached the Centre urging an import duty hike on aluminium scrap and primary aluminium to 10% from 2.5% and 7.5% respectively. The association also sought an increase in export duty on bauxite from 15% to 20 %. According to them, government should encourage more domestic value addition of the ore, and for that it should trim further exports.
Custom duty on bauxite export was marginally reduced from 20% to 15% in Budget 2016 after All India Association of Industries (AIAI) claimed that heavy custom duty was turning Indian bauxite non-competitive in the global market.
On the contrary Indian aluminium majors including National Aluminium Company (Nalco) and Hindalco Industries have been lobbying the government for complete ban of bauxite exports. They are of the view that retaining more of the ore in the country would help keep aluminium cost of production under control and facilitate further value addition.
India exports bauxite to China, Saudi Arabia, France, Japan, Slovenia, USA, UK, Oman, Italy and Kuwait. China is the main importer of bauxite’s from India. Imports are quiet negligible in comparison to the exports; the ore is procured in lesser quantities from Guinea and Brazil, the two major suppliers of global bauxite.
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