Brazil's iron ore exports hit a record high in a single month

According to a report from Reuters cited by Mining.com, Brazilian officials released data on Wednesday showing that the country's iron ore exports reached 41.1 million mt in July, breaking the previous record of 39.5 million mt set in December 2015.

Brazil is the world's second-largest iron ore exporter after Australia. This steel-making raw material, along with crude oil and soybeans, is one of Brazil's main export commodities.

This data was released after Brazil announced a trade surplus of $7.1 billion in July, a 6.3% YoY decrease.

Brazilian iron ore is mainly exported by Vale, a domestic miner. In July, Vale's exports increased by 4.7%, but due to a 13% drop in prices, its export value fell by 8.8% to $2.62 billion.

"Industry confidence rebounded in June and July due to China's progress in implementing large projects and the recovery of production," the Brazilian Mining Institute (Ibram) stated in a release.

"This may be one of the factors affecting demand," Ibram added, which also led to a rebound in international iron ore prices starting from the end of June.