Karnataka, a major producer and exporter of iron ore, has banned exports of the raw material from 10 ports, government sources said on Tuesday.

"An order has been passed yesterday," a source in the ports department in Bangalore, who did not wish to be named, told Reuters.

Two other junior officials also said an order had been passed banning iron ore exports.

The move comes in the wake of allegations of illegal mining by companies and corruption in the government that has the state's ruling party at loggerheads with the federal government.

Reports in some local newspapers in Karnataka quoted the state's chief minister BS Yeddyurappa as saying he had banned exports of the commodity, though there was no official notification on the move.

"As all 10 minor ports come under state government jurisdiction, my government has taken the decision of banning of export," Yeddyurappa was quoted as saying in the Deccan Herald.

Karnataka is the country's second largest iron ore producer. The state mined 45.94 mln tons of the steel-making ingredient out of total Indian production of 215 mln tons in the year to March 2010, data from trade body Federation of Indian Mineral Industries shows.

Source: Reuters