By Paul Ploumis
SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The latest trade data released by the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and the Secretariat of Foreign Trade (SECEX) indicates that the country’s iron ore exports declined sharply during the month of April this year. This is when compared with the exports during the same month a year before. However, the cumulative exports during the initial four-month period of the year ended slightly higher over the previous year.
Exports-Apr’17
As per data, Brazil exported 24.04 million tons of iron ore during the month, significantly down by 17% when compared with April 2016. The country’s exports had totaled 28.96 million tons in April last year. The key destination of Brazilian iron ore was China. The Chinese imports of ore from Brazil totaled 13.035 million tons, accounting for more than 54% of total ore exports by Brazil during the month. The second largest importer of Brazilian ore was Malaysia with imports totaling 1.916 million tons in April 2017. Among Brazilian ports, Saint Louis Harbor recorded highest shipment volume, followed by Sepetiba and Victoria Harbor.
The total value of exports amounted to $1.62 billion during the month, mainly on account of robust export prices. The export value registered 69% surge over the previous year. Incidentally, the average export prices more than doubled from $33.15 per ton FOB in April 2016 to $67.47 per ton FOB in April this year.
Meantime, the cumulative ore exports by the country during the initial four months of 2017 increased marginally by 0.7% over the corresponding four-month period in 2016 to 115 million tons. It must be noted that the country’s exports had totaled 114.2 million tons during Jan-Apr ’16. The value of exports surged higher significantly by 128.6% to total $7.04 billion. China accounted for nearly 55% of the Brazilian ore exports, importing 63.511 million tons. The exports to Malaysia totaled 8.928 million tons, followed by the Netherlands with 6.201 million tons. The top three importing nations accounted for more than 70% of the Brazilian ore exports during the four-month period.
Exports-Mar ‘17
The country’s iron ore exports surged higher by 20% to 36.39 million tons compared with March 2016. The value of exports almost doubled to $2.32 million during the month. The largest importers were China (20.486 million tons, 56.3% share), Malaysia (2.435 million tons, 6.7% share), the Netherlands (2.161 million tons, 5.9% share) and Japan (1.753 million tons, 4.8% share).
Exports-Feb ‘17
According to statistics, Brazil’s iron ore exports totaled 25.73 million tons in February this year. The exports have edged lower by nearly 14% during the month, in comparison with the same month a year before. The iron ore exports by the country had totaled 29.95 million tons in February 2016. When matched with the prior month, exports in February were down considerably by just over 11%. Brazil had exported 28.915 million tons of steel making raw materials during the first month of the current year.
The largest destination of iron ore exports from Brazil was China. The Chinese imports from Brazil totaled 13.75 million tons, accounting for more than 53% of the total Brazilian exports during the month. The imports by China fell sharply from 16.239 million tons during the previous month. The second largest importer was Malaysia with 2.74 million tons, followed by Oman (1.16 million tons) and Japan (1.07 million tons).
