According to the statistics provided by Brazil's National Union of the Industry of Extraction of Iron and Base Metals (Sinferbase), in August this year Brazil's iron ore exports amounted to 27.7 million metric tons, rising by 4.9 percent year on year and up 8.9 percent compared to the previous month.
In the first eight months of 2012, Brazilian iron ore exports increased slightly by 1.3 year on year with a total of 188.9 million metric tons. Major domestic miner Vale's share in Brazil's total iron ore exports in the first eight months of this year reached 89.8 percent, amounting to 170 million metric tons, rising also by 1.3 percent compared to the corresponding period of 2011.
Brazilian miner Vale's exports of iron ore in August amounted to 25 million tons, 1.9 million mt higher compared to August 2011. For other miners, Samarco exported 1.9 million mt of iron ore in August, falling by 22.7 percent from the same month of last year. Anglo American reported a 12.6 percent rise in exports, increasing its exports to 446,000 mt in August.
Meanwhile, Brazil's total iron ore and pellet sales to its domestic market amounted to 19.34 milion mt in the January-August period of this year, decreasing 34.4 percent compared to the same period of 2011. Vale's iron ore shipments for the domestic market in the period in question dropped by 18.6 percent year on year to 9.4 million mt.