In a shortsighted move, the Federal Cabinet announced its decision to allow state-owned MMTC Corp to export high quality iron ore to China, Japan, and Korea; the only good news of the order is that it reduced the quantity of iron ore that it can export. The Government allowed MMTC to enter into long term agreements up to 5 years to export 2.7 million tons (mt) down from 3mt of lumps and 1.81mt of fines down from 3.8mt.