China
rescues MPT
Sandesh Prabhudesai
3 April 2003
Goa-based Mormugao Port Trust, the leading iron ore exporter
in the country, is shifting its focus from Japan to China,
the immediate neighbour that has come for rescue.
The recession hitting the automobile industry in Japan has
reduced Goa's iron ore exports drastically, bringing it below
50 per cent for the first time in the history of the ore-rich
state.
In spite of Japan importing only 45 per cent (8.42 Million
Tonnes) of Goa's total iron ore exports, the MPT could still
show four per cent rise mainly due to sudden jump in the Chinese
imports, from mere 16 per cent (5.38 MT) last
year to 42 per cent (7.8 MT) this year.
"I am confident that the trend would continue at least
for the next two decades with China becoming our trusted customer",
states MPT chairperson P K Mohanty confidently. He refuses
to buy the argument that it is a temporary phenomenon due
to the scheduled Olympics in China.
Though what Goa has exported to China is not even five per
cent of its total iron ore imports, Mohanty feels the demand
would go on increasing with the developing neighbour going
into more infrastructural development that requires steel.
He is however not sure why Japan, the traditional customer
of Goan iron ore, is showing a consistent decline for the
last few years. Goa was exporting almost 58 per cent of its
iron ore to Japan until 1996, against today's 45 per cent.
Interestingly, except substantial rise in exports to North
Korea (from 0.8 MT to 1.08 MT), no other country from among
the total 16 buyers have shown any significant rise. On the
contrary, countries like Netherlands and Belgium have reduced
its import quota while Romania, Germany, Turkey, Kuwait and
Oman have stopped buying from Goa.
In spite of this trend and the fact that iron ore contains
over 97 per cent of Goa's exports, the MPT has achieved highest
ever figure of 23.65 MT of port traffic, including 4.38 MT
of imports. Mohanty however admits that the MPT has now been
pushed down to eighth rank among the ports in the country,
with JNPT and Paradeep surpassing them.
Besides improving the overall efficiency of the port, the
MPT is now concentrating more upon increasing its capacity
to handle larger iron ore carriers, by dredging and deepening
the draft from 13 to 15 metres. "It would help in increasing
our volume by three MT", states Mohanty.
In spite of all such odds that restrict the cargo flow, the
MPT has shown a quantum jump in its net surplus, Rs 7.72 crore
last year to Rs 37.2 crore this year. "We are still not
satisfied with our performance and need to achieve more",
says Mohanty.
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