The China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) has announced that in December last year China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOC) issued iron ore import licenses for a total of 72.5555 million mt, down 31.27 percent month on month, valued at $3.436 billion. In the whole of 2015, the MOC issued iron ore import licenses for a total of 1.21855 billion mt, valued at $72.851 billion.
In December last year, the iron ore import licenses issued by China for Australian and Brazilian iron ore amounted to 43.5575 million mt and 18.1784 million mt respectively, down 34.03 percent and decreasing by 27.51 percent month on month, with respective values of $2.037 billion and $881 million. In 2015, the iron ore import licenses issued for Australian and Brazilian iron ore totaled 770.4658 million mt and 251.9203 million mt, valued at $45.109 billion and $15.844 billion, respectively.
Licenses issued for imports of South African iron ore in December last year amounted to 3.4401 million mt, down 29.06 percent month on month, valued at $185 million, while licenses issued for iron ore from other countries amounted to 1.9547 million mt, valued at $82 million. In 2015, the import licenses issued for iron ore from South Africa and other countries amounted to 54.4163 million mt and 36.7983 million mt, valued at $3.502 billion and $1.948 billion, respectively.