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India's iron pellet makers want to curb Iranian imports through Oman

Sources and an analyst have said that India's iron pellet makers have asked the government to curtail a surge of imports via Oman. They claim the products are from Iran, despite U.S. sanction, and warned the cheaper supplies may hurt the local industry.

Lalit Ladkat of the London-based CRU Group told us that India is the third largest iron ore producer in terms of metric tonnage. However, imports between 2021-2024 were negligible, Lalit Ladkat said.

Ladkat stated that the majority of these pellets were of Iranian origin, and they were shipped via Oman in order to avoid sanctions.

Ladkat stated that the surge in imports was driven by higher prices for pellets at home and the availability cheaper, high quality Iranian pellets.

One of the sources who was involved in this matter declined to identify themselves as the discussions were not made public.

The ministry didn't respond to an email asking for comments.

The Pellet Manufacturers' Association of India (PMAI), in a letter to the Ministry, said that even though the pellet imports had been shown to come from Oman, "there were doubts about the country of origin/manufacture as it was understood that this country did not produce pellets."

PMAI reported that due to the increasing imports, domestic pellet producers are only operating at 69% capacity.

Manish Kharbanda told PMAIm that the country of Oman's origin is questionable.

In 2019, Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Iran that targeted the Islamic Republic's industrial metals export revenue.

Steelmaking uses both iron ore and pellets of iron ore.

India's steel demand is driven by a robust steel production that is underpinned by the growth of infrastructure, construction and the automobile sector.

India's steel consumption in April and May of 2025/26 was 25.1 million tons, an increase of 7.1% compared to a year ago. Meanwhile, crude steel production increased by 9.5%, reaching 26.9 millions metric tons. (Reporting and editing by Mayank Bhardwaj, Kim Coghill and Mayank Bhardwaj; Additional reporting from Sarah El Safty and Manoj Kumar at New Delhi; and Manvi Pan in Bengaluru.)

(source: Reuters)