Iron ore imports soar in Guangdong
Recent data show that
iron ore imports at
Chinas Guangdong port totaled 2.95 million tons during the first two months of 2005, a 52.9% rise year-on-year. The imports carried a trade value of $250 million, up 36.5% year-on-year.
Imports in February alone reached 1.842 million tons, the highest monthly import quantity in recent years. Import prices also enjoyed a strong comeback in February.
Iron ore import prices initially embarked on a downward trend after the implementation of several macro control policies in April 2004. In August 2004, the average
iron ore import price was $54.9/ton. However, market demand drove prices to $75.4/ton in November 2004. By February 2005, the
iron ore import price at Guangzhou reached as high as $88.2/ton.
India and
Brazil are the major
iron ore exporters to Guangdong. At 958000 tons,
iron ore from
India accounted for 32.5% of total imports through the first two months of 2005. However, tonnage from
India was down 22.9% year-onyear. Brazilian imports, which made up 29.1% of the total, surged over 11-fold year-on-year to 859000 tons thousand tons
Moreover,
iron ore imports from South
Africa doubled to 398000 tons, while Australian imports increased nearly four-fold to 309000 tons.