New Delhi, July 1 (IANS) The production of key minerals in India has continued to witness strong growth during the first two months of FY 2025-26, after reaching record production levels in FY 2024-25, according to official figures released on Tuesday.

The production of iron ore, which accounts for 70 per cent of the total mineral output by value, has increased to 53 million metric tonnes (MMT) in FY 2025-26 (April-May) from 52.7 MMT in the same two months of the previous financial year.

The production of manganese ore has risen by 1.4 per cent to 0.7 MMT in the first two months of FY 2025-26 from 0.69 MMT during the corresponding period of previous year.

The production of bauxite has also gone up by 0.9 per cent to 4.73 MMT in FY 2025-26 (April-May) from 4.69 MMT in same period of FY 2024-25. The production of zinc concentrate has shot up by 3.7 per cent to 0.28 MMT in FY 2025-26 from 0.27 MMT in the same period of the previous year while the output of limestone has risen by 1.6 per cent to 81.40 MMT in FY 2025-26 (April-May) from 80.10 MMT in the same two months of the previous year.

In terms of Index Industrial Production for mining and quarrying for the month of April, minerals like Zinc Concentrate, Limestone and Bauxite had seen notable increase in production during April 2025 compared to April 2024. Production of zinc concentrate grew by 5.8 per cent to 0.14 MMT while the production of limestone rose by 1.2 per cent to 40.1 MMT in April 2025 over April 2024. The production of bauxite rose by 13.6 per cent to 2.13 MMT in April 2025 over April 2024.

In the non-ferrous metal sector, primary aluminium production in the first two months of FY 2025-26 posted a growth of 1.3 per cent over the corresponding period last year, increasing to 7.07 lakh tonnes (LT) from 6.98 LT in corresponding period of the previous year. During the same period, refined copper production has surged by 43.5 per cent from 0.69 LT to 0.99 LT.

India is the 2nd largest Aluminium producer, among top-10 producer in refined copper and 3rd largest iron ore producer in the world. Continued growth in production of iron ore in the current financial year reflects the robust demand conditions in the user industry viz. steel. Coupled with growth in aluminium and copper, these growth trends point towards continued strong economic activity in user sectors such as energy, infrastructure, construction, automotive and machinery.

–IANS

sps/na