Ministry allows exports of iron ore bought from Quy Xa Mine
Ministry allows exports of iron ore bought from Quy Xa Mine
The Ministry of Industry and Trade has given the green light to three firms to export a total volume of 340,000 tonnes of limonite iron ore which they previously bought from Quy Xa Mine of Viet-Trung Metallurgy and Mineral Company Limited in the northern province of Lao Cai.
Accordingly, Minh Duc Mining Joint Stock Company is allowed to export 200,000 tonnes, Lan Anh Construction Company Limited 70,000 tonnes and Hoang Lan Trading Company Limited 70,000 tonnes.
In December, the three companies proposed the exportation of the iron ore which they bought from Viet-Trung Metallury and Minieral Company Limited in 2018 after they failed to sell the iron ore in the domestic market
The ministry asked the three companies to report on the status of the exports regularly and must give priority to selling the ore in the domestic market in case there was demand. In addition, the ministry asked Lao Cai Province People’s Committee to tighten supervision on the export of these three companies to ensure the export of ore of right types, right origin and right volume.
Limonite is a raw ore which is subject to Viet Nam’s policy of limiting exports. The country only encourages the export of processed ore to earn higher added value.
In December 2017, the ministry also allowed Viet Phat Company to export 200,000 tonnes of iron ore from Quy Xa Mine.
Quy Xa Iron Mine, located in Van Ban District’s Son Thuy Commune, with a production capacity of three million tonnes per year, was one of two major facilities of Viet-Trung Metallurgy and Mineral Company Limited, besides Lao Cai Iron and Steel Plant.
Quy Xa Mine’s exploitation output was expected to supply Viet Trung Steel Plant, a joint venture between Viet-Trung Metallurgy and Mineral Joint Stock Company and a Chinese partner, which was one in twelve loss-making projects under the management of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
The ministry recently proposed to remove Viet Trung Steel Plant from the list of 12 loss-making projects after Viet-Trung Metallurgy and Mineral Joint Stock Company reported profit of VND470 billion (US$420 million) in 2018.
However, the proposal faced disagreements that the profit mainly came from the export of raw ore from Quy Xa Mine while Viet Nam did not encourage the export of raw materials.
