The China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) has announced that in July this year China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOC) issued iron ore import licenses for a total of 100.265 million mt, down 23.3 percent month on month, valued at $5.423 billion. In the January-July period of the current year, the MOC issued iron ore import licenses for a total of 807.3895 million mt, valued at $42.636 billion.
In July this year, the iron ore import licenses issued by China for Australian and Brazilian iron ore amounted to 62.7758 million mt and 22.3402 million mt respectively, down 21.3 percent and decreasing by 21.17 percent month on month, with respective values of $3.353 billion and $1.260 billion. In the January-July period of the current year, the iron ore import licenses issued for Australian and Brazilian iron ore totaled 500.5740 million mt and 170.9860 million mt, valued at $25.885 billion and $9.836 billion, respectively.
Licenses issued for imports of South African iron ore in July amounted to 2.7767 million mt, down 56.62 percent month on month, valued at $4.4904 million, while licenses issued for iron ore from other countries amounted to 12.3725 million mt, valued at $643 million. In the January-July period this year, the import licenses issued for iron ore from South Africa and other countries amounted to 33.9349 million mt and 101.8946 million mt, valued at $1.848 billion and $5.067 billion, respectively.