Iron ore shipments from Australia and Brazil continued to expand

SHANGHAI, Apr 21 (SMM) – A total of 78 vessels carrying 12.01 million mt of iron ore arrived at major Chinese ports during April 12-18, SMM estimates. This was down 1.82 million mt from the prior week, and down 1.22 million mt from the same period last year.

For the same week, iron ore deliveries leaving Australian ports increased 1.91 million mt from the previous week to 17.59 million mt, some 825,000 mt higher than the same period last year. The proportion of Australian iron ore destined for China maintained at about 87.5%. 

Shipments that departed Brazilian ports were estimated to rise 1.48 million mt from the prior week to 6.24 million mt. This was 2.69 million mt higher than the same period last year.

The combined shipments of iron ore from Australia and Brazil extended their increase last week.