India Court Issues Notice on Iron Ore Export Ban

NEW DELHI : India's top court issued notices to the Karnataka state government on Friday asking why it must not admit an appeal by mining firm MSPL Ltd that challenged a ban on iron ore exports from the state.

The Supreme Court will next hear arguments from Karnataka government's lawyers before it decides to admit the appeal and hear the case.

The Karnataka government banned exports of iron ore from 10 ports in the state at the end of July and later banned its movement to other ports for exports, citing a drive against illegal mining and the need to preserve the resource for local steel mills.

Two Indian iron ore miners said on Tuesday they will challenge the ban in the Supreme Court.

A prominent miner in Karnataka, MSPL exports most of its annual output of 2.5 million tonnes of iron ore lumps and fines to China that houses the world's largest steel industry.

Karnataka accounts for about a quarter of India's annual exports of over 100 million tonnes of iron ore, most of which lands in China.

India's iron ore exports in October fell 30.4 percent from a year earlier to 6.4 million tonnes, data from a trade body showed on Wednesday, reflecting the impact of the ban from Karnataka.