Home / Metal News / Positive start to South Africa's Iron Ore Exports in 2017, says trade data

Positive start to South Africa's Iron Ore Exports in 2017, says trade data

iconMar 31, 2017 11:15
The country's iron ore imports increased modestly during the month of October this year, says latest statistics released by the Chinese General Administration of Customs.

By Paul Ploumis

ALBANY (Scrap Monster): The country’s iron ore exports increased modestly during the month of January this year, says latest statistics released by the South African Revenue Service.

The country’s iron ore exports totaled 5.310 million tonnes during the month. This is higher by 5.0% when matched with the exports during the corresponding month last year. The country had exported 5.057 million tonnes of iron ore during January 2016. Also, the total value of exports by the country has increased sharply by nearly 41% over the year from $263.783 million in January last year to $371.994 million in January this year. The average export price too has surged higher by 34.3% year-on-year to $70.1 per tonne in Jan ’17. The South African iron ore exports had averaged at $52.5 per tonne during the same month last year.

The largest importer of iron ore from South Africa during the month was China. The exports to China totaled 3.311 million tonnes, valued at $215.465 million. The export prices averaged at $65.10 per tonne. South Africa exported 461,551 tonnes of iron ore to the Netherlands during the month. The exports to the Netherlands were valued at $38.215 million. The average price of export stood at $82.8 per tonne. In third place was South Korea with 440,638 tonnes. The total value of exports from the country amounted to $34.344 million. The exports to the country averaged at $77.9 per ton during January this year. The other key importers of iron ore from South Africa were Hong Kong (244,800 tonnes), Italy (170,026 tonnes) and Japan (170,000 tonnes).

The exports of agglomerated iron ore during January ’17 totaled 2.902 million tonnes, significantly lower by nearly 17% when compared with the same month a year before. The South African agglomerated iron ore exports had totaled 3.478 million tonnes during January 2016. The value of exports amounted to $218.040 million during Jan ‘17. The export value has increased marginally by nearly 6% when compared with the previous year. The South African iron ore exports were valued at $205.938 million during January last year. The export prices of agglomerated ore saw considerable increase of 26.9% over the year. The average export price edged higher from $59.20 per tonne in Jan ’16 to $75.10 per tonne in Jan ‘17.

The largest importer of agglomerated iron ore from South Africa was China. The exports to the country totaled 1.480 million tonnes. The value of iron ore exports to China totaled $103.391 million. The exports averaged at $69.8 per tonne. The other key importers during the month were South Korea (440,638 tonnes), the Netherlands (255,355 tonnes) and Italy (170,026 tonnes).

The exports of non agglomerated iron ore totaled 2.408 million tons, accounting for over 45% of the total exports. The non-agglomerated iron ore exports by the country soared by 53% when matched with 1.579 million tonnes exported during January last year. The value of non-agglomerated iron ore exports has surged by 166% year-on-year to $153.954 million from $57.845 million a year before.

The country exported non-agglomerated iron ore mainly to China. The exports to China totaled 1.831 million tonnes at an average price of $61.2 per tonne. The value of South African iron ore exports to China amounted to $112.074 million. The other primary importers of non-agglomerated iron ore from South Africa during January this year were Hong Kong (244,800 tonnes), the Netherlands (206,196 tonnes) and the USA (119,641 tonnes).

iron ore exports

For queries, please contact Michael Jiang at michaeljiang@smm.cn

For more information on how to access our research reports, please email service.en@smm.cn

Related news

SMM Events & Webinars

All