Chinese Customs Data Reveals 6% Surge in Iron Ore Imports

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The trade statistics published by the Chinese General Administration of Customs indicate marginal jump in iron ore import volumes by the country during the month of November 2017. Also, the country’s imports during the opening eleven-month period of 2017 recorded slight jump over the previous year.

The Chinese iron ore imports totaled 94.539 million tonnes in November 2017, slightly higher by 3.1% when compared with the imports of 91.653 million tonnes during the corresponding month in 2016. Nearly 63% of the total iron ore imports by China were supplied by Australia. The imports from Australia totaled 59.435 million tonnes during the month at an average price of $64.8 per tonne. The value of imports from that country amounted to $3.851 billion. The other key exporters to China were Brazil (20.949 million tonnes) and South Africa (4.352 million tonnes).

Out of this, the imports of non-agglomerated iron ore totaled 92.265 million tonnes, representing nearly 98% of total imports. The non-agglomerated ore imports rose marginally by 2% during the month. The largest supplier was Australia, followed by Brazil and South Africa. The agglomerated ore imports totaled 2.274 million tonnes. India emerged as the largest supplier with 1.093 million tonnes.

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During the initial eleven-month period of 2017, China imported 990.8 million tonnes of steel making raw material. The imports reported 6% jump over the previous year. Australia (616.5 million tonnes), Brazil (208.4 million tonnes) and South Africa (42.3 million tonnes) were the top three exporters of iron ore to China during Jan-Nov ’17. The combined exports by the top three exporting nations accounted for nearly 88% of total Chinese imports.

The imports of non-agglomerated ore totaled 974.9 million tonnes with Australia (614.9 million tonnes), Brazil (206.7 million tonnes) and South Africa (42.3 million tonnes) reporting highest volumes of export. China’s imports of agglomerated iron ore surged higher by over 19% to 15.9 million tonnes in Jan-Nov ’17. The primary suppliers were India (7.48 million tonnes), Ukraine (2.04 million tonnes), Brazil (1.69 million tonnes) and Australia (1.57 million tonnes). The value of non-agglomerated and agglomerated ore imports by China was up by 35.4% and 64.2% respectively.