Iron ore exports from Canada declined 16.7 percent in April 2017 compared to April 2016. The combined exports of pellets and concentrates by Canada totaled 2.599 million mt in April 2017 compared to 3.118 million mt in April 2016. However, the total exports during the initial four-month period of the year were up by 4.4 percent year-on-year at 11.631 million mt.
Monthly iron ore concentrate exports totaled 1.552 mt, down 8.4 percent when compared with the exports of 1.694 million mt during April 2016. The value of iron ore concentrate exports during the month increased by 10.8 percent from $114.327 million in April last year to $126.659 million in April 2017. The unit price increased by 21 percent from $67.5/mt to $81.6/mt.
Combined pellet exports by all provinces during the month declined sharply by 26.5 percent from 1.425 million mt in April 2016 to 1.047 million mt in April 2017. The value of pellet exports totaled $120.3 million in April 2017, whereas the export prices averaged at $114.9/mt. The exports averaged at $95/mt, 27 percent higher compared with the average export price of $74.7/mt in April 2016.
Broken down by province, Quebec exported 1.517 million mt in April 2017 with iron ore concentrates making up 1.243 million mt and 274,335 mt of iron pellets. Newfoundland and Labrador exported 308,949 mt of iron ore concentrates and Newfoundland exported 772,279 mt of pellets.
Iron ore exports reported for the Jan-April 2017 period include: Quebec (5.944 million mt), Newfoundland and Labrador (5.687 million mt), Ontario (178 mt) and Nunavut (2 mt). The exports were valued at $1.066 billion at an average of $91.7/mt.