The China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) has announced that in August this year China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOC) issued iron ore import licenses for a total of 108.0817 million mt, down 0.43 percent month on month, valued at $6.174 billion. In the January-August period of the year, the MOC issued iron ore import licenses for a total of 841.1290 million mt, valued at $52.260 billion.
In August this year, the iron ore import licenses issued by China for Australian and Brazilian iron ore amounted to 71.4083 million mt and 21.1434 million mt respectively, up 5.51 percent and decreasing by 11.81 percent month on month, with respective values of $4.006 billion and $1.299 billion. In the January-August period of the current year, the iron ore import licenses issued for Australian and Brazilian iron ore totaled 533.0585 million mt and 169.4125 million mt, valued at $32.301 billion and $11.166 billion, respectively.
Licenses issued for imports of South African iron ore in August amounted to 5.0045 million mt, up 8.13 percent month on month, valued at $307 million, while licenses issued for iron ore from other countries amounted to 2.5363 million mt, valued at $129 million. In the January-August period of the year, the import licenses issued for iron ore from South Africa and other countries amounted to 37.7721 million mt and 27.1904 million mt, valued at $2.533 billion and $1.462 billion, respectively.