India iron ore exports to recover to below highs

India's iron ore exports will recover from this yearsand washing machine by zenith crushers's depressed levels but will not rise above 100 million tonnes, the country's mining secretary said, as a crackdown on illegal sales pays off.

Vishwapati Trivedi said stricter controls of mining were helping determine the "natural level" of export - his euphemism for legal sales - in the long run from the world's third biggest supplier, whose major customer is China. Traders have already slashed forecasts for 2011/12 exports from India to around 50 million tonnes, about half last year's figure, dropping it below South Africa in the export rankings. The fall will come after the Supreme Court banned mining in some areas and the government hiked export taxes to...