Odisha’s iron and steel industry members have sought the right of pre-emption rights from the state government for priority use of iron ore to ensure adequate availability. Steelmaking units in the state are battling a severe shortage of material which has resulted in inflated costs.
The Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) stated the feeble iron ore output, its abundant transport to other states, export along with surging ore prices is proving to be a threat. Earlier, the Kalingnagar Industries Association and Associated Chamber of Commerce had also raised similar issues.
CII has sought the right for the first refusal on the non-preempted ore from merchant miners to be exported or sold outside the state.
Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL) has also extended support for such a policy. The company has applied to the state government to supply iron ore for its pellet plant at Barbil in Keonjhar with a capacity of 9mn mt under the proactive policy. The company also has a pellet plant with 6mn mt annual capacity at Angul, for which it is willing to pay for the raw material according to IBM determined cost.