Taiwan's Iron Ore imports rebound and close 52% higher in January

By Anil Mathews

BEIJING (Scrap Monster): The trade statistics released by the Taiwan’s Directorate General of Customs for the first month of the year 2017 indicates significant jump in iron ore imports by the country. The imports during Jan ’17 surged higher by 51.5% over the previous year. It must be noted that the imports had recorded marginal decline during the year 2016.

Lump/Fines

The imports of lump/fines by the country totaled 2.092 million tonnes in Jan ‘17, considerably higher by 41.8% when matched with imports of 1.476 Million tonnes in January 2016. The largest exporter of iron ore lump/fines to Taiwan during January this year was Australia. The imports from Australia totaled 1.513 Million tonnes, accounting for almost 72% of the total imports of lump/fines by Taiwan during the month. The import price averaged at $77.20 per ton and the value of imports totaled $116.84 million. The other key import source was Brazil (529,451 tonnes). The value of imports from Brazil totaled $31.85 million at an average price of $60.20 per ton. The country imported 39,972 tonnes and 9,597 tonnes of iron ore from Canada and Indonesia respectively during the month.

Pellets

Canada was the key pellet exporter to Taiwan during Jan ’17. The pellet imports from Canada totaled 161,761 tonnes. Brazil exported 159,420 tonnes of pellets to Taiwan during the month. Taiwan’s pellet imports from Australia totaled 84,719 tonnes. The monthly pellet imports by Taiwan surged higher by nearly 134% in January this year to 405,900 tonnes, when matched with the imports of 173,247 tonnes during the same month a year before.

Combined

Taiwan’s iron ore imports during the month totaled 2.498 Million tonnes, significantly higher by nearly 51.5% when compared with the imports during the same month a year before. Taiwan had imported 1.649 Million tonnes of iron ore during January 2016. The import prices averaged at $73.90 per tonne, nearly 61% higher year-on-year. The iron ore import prices during January 2015 had averaged at $45.90 per tonne. The country’s Jan ’17 iron ore imports were valued at $184.681 million, increasing sharply by 144% when compared with the previous year.

The largest exporter of iron ore to Taiwan during January this year was Australia. The imports from Australia totaled 1.598 Million tonnes, accounting for nearly 64% of the total imports by Taiwan during the month. The price of iron ore import from the country averaged at $76.6 per tonne. The second largest source of iron ore import by the country was Brazil with 688,871 tonnes. The iron ore import prices from Brazil averaged at $60.10 per tonne during the month. The third largest exporter of iron ore to Taiwan was Canada with 201,733 tonnes.

Iron Ore Imports in 2016

The cumulative iron ore imports by Taiwan during the entire year 2016 totaled 23.462 Million tonnes. The imports during the year were down marginally by 1.5% when matched with the imports of 23.814 Million tonnes during 2015. The overall price of imports dropped sharply by 13.6% from $65.5 per ton to $56.6 per ton. 

The largest exporter of iron ore to Taiwan during the previous year was Australia. The imports from Australia totaled 17.274 Million tonnes. The second largest source of iron ore import by the country was Brazil with 5.118 Million tonnes. The iron ore import prices from Brazil averaged at $54.0 per tonne during the year. The other key exporters during 2016 were Canada (975,471 tonnes), China (92,590 tonnes) and Philippines (1,901 tonnes).