On April 16, the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) announced that in March this year China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) issued iron ore import licenses for a total of 102.84 million mt, up 16.92 percent month on month, valued at $6.517 billion. In the first quarter of the year, the MOC issued iron ore import licenses for a total of 316.55 million mt, valued at $21.464 billion.
In March this year, the iron ore import licenses issued by China for Australian and Brazilian iron ore amounted to 67.8937 million mt and 18.9353 million mt respectively, up 29.93 percent and down 5.3 percent month on month, with respective values of $4.354 billion and $1.183 billion. In the first quarter of the current year, the iron ore import licenses issued for Australian and Brazilian iron ore totaled 197.2522 million mt and 63.7377 million mt, valued at $13.232 billion and $4.469 billion, respectively.
Licenses issued for imports of South African iron ore in March amounted to 5.3324 million mt, up 42.18 percent month on month, valued at $353 million, while licenses issued for iron ore from other countries amounted to 2.4950 million mt, valued at $139 million. In the first quarter, the import licenses issued for iron ore from South Africa and other countries amounted to 14.2648 million mt and 11.8723 million mt, valued at $1.04 billion and $702 million, respectively.