Canada's iron ore exports dropped heavily by 12% in March

By Carolina Curiel

MONTREAL (Scrap Monster): The iron ore exports by Canada declined sharply by over 12% during the month of March this year. The cumulative exports during the initial three-month period of the year were down marginally year-on-year. Among provinces, Newfoundland and Labrador topped with total exports of 1.925 Mt in March ’17. The province was also the leading exporter during the three-month period from January to March with total exports of 4.606 Mt.

The exports of iron ore concentrates from Newfoundland and Labrador totaled 993,232 tonnes during March this year, followed by Quebec with 439,835 tonnes. Ontario’s exports of iron ore concentrates dropped to zero during the month. The monthly iron ore concentrate exports totaled 1.433 Mt, down considerably by 19% when compared with the exports of 1.769 Mt during March 2016. The value of iron ore concentrate exports during the month increased modestly by 3.4% from $99.933 million in March last year to $103.326 million in March 2017. The unit price per tonne of concentrates increased significantly over the year by 27.6% from $56.50 to $72.10.

The pellet exports from Newfoundland totaled 932,249 tonnes in March. The prices averaged at $114.6 per tonne. Quebec exported 429,181 tonnes of iron ore pellets at an average price of $117.3 per tonne. Ontario’s pellet exports totaled 30 tonnes during the month. The combined pellet exports by all provinces during the month decreased marginally by 3.8% from 1.415 Mt in March ’16 to 1.361 Mt in March this year. The value of pellet exports totaled $157.2 million, whereas the export prices averaged at $115.5 per tonne.

The combined exports of pellets and concentrates by Canada totaled 2.795 Mt in March this year. The exports dropped considerably by 12.2% when matched with the exports of 3.183 Mt during the same month a year before. Out of this, Newfoundland and Labrador accounted for 1.925 Mt of exports, followed by Quebec with 869,016 tonnes and Ontario with 30 tonnes. The value of exports totaled $260.538 million. The exports averaged at $93.20 per tonne, significantly higher by over 44.4% when compared with the average export price of $64.6 per tonne in March last year.

During the initial three-month period of 2017, iron ore concentrates export from Quebec totaled 2.732 Mt. The second largest provincial exports were reported by Newfoundland and Labrador. The exports from the province totaled 2.194 Mt, followed by Ontario with 73 tonnes. The cumulative concentrates export edged lower by 10.9% from 5.531 Mt in Jan-March ’16 to 4.927 Mt during the initial three months of this year. The unit price per tonne increased sharply by 30.8% to $74.8 per tonne during Jan-Mar ‘17.

The pellet exports from Newfoundland totaled 2.412 Mt during Jan-March ‘17. The export prices from the province averaged at $109.5 per tonne. Quebec exported 1.610 Mt of iron ore pellets at an average price of $111.8 per tonne. The pellet exports by Ontario totaled 68 tonnes during the three-month period. The combined pellet exports by all provinces during the initial three months of 2017 increased significantly by 14.4% from 3.515 Mt in Jan-March ’16 to 4.022 Mt in the corresponding three-month period this year. The value of pellet exports totaled $444.091 million, whereas the export prices averaged at $110.4 per tonne.

The cumulative iron ore exports by Canada during the first three months of 2017 totaled 8.949 Mt, declining marginally by just over 1% when compared with the previous year. The iron ore export reported by various provinces is as follows: Newfoundland and Labrador (4.606 Mt), Quebec (4.341 Mt), Ontario (141 tonnes) and Nunavut (2 tonnes). The exports were valued at $812.848 million at an average of $90.8 per tonne.