The China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) announced on January 14 that in December last year China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) issued iron ore import licenses for a total of 64.77 million mt, down 29.6 percent month on month, valued at $4.673 billion. In 2014, iron ore import licenses were issued for a total of 1.1801367 billion mt, valued at $116.424 billion.
In December last year, the iron ore import licenses issued by China for Australian and Brazilian iron ore amounted to 41.3811 million mt and 9.3729 million mt respectively, down 25.58 percent and 40.07 percent month on month. In the whole of 2014, the iron ore import licenses issued by China for Australian and Brazilian iron ore totaled 685.7807 million mt and 215.1610 million mt respectively.
Licenses issued for imports of South African iron ore in December amounted to 2.9334 million mt, down 23.31 percent month on month, valued at $100 million, while licenses issued for iron ore from other countries amounted to 2.2464 million mt, valued at $151 million. In the full year of 2014, the import licenses issued by China for iron ore from South Africa and other countries amounted to 52.6636 million mt and 74.9179 million mt respectively.