On May 18, the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) announced that in April this year China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOC) issued iron ore import licenses for a total of 100.6764 million mt, down 2.1 percent month on month, valued at $5.741 billion. In the first four months of the year, the MOC issued iron ore import licenses for a total of 417.8191 million mt, valued at $27.233 billion.
In April this year, the iron ore import licenses issued by China for Australian and Brazilian iron ore amounted to 64.6086 million mt and 17.4650 million mt respectively, down 4.64 percent and decreasing by 7.76 percent month on month, with respective values of $3.564 billion and $1.031 billion. In the first four months of the current year, the iron ore import licenses issued for Australian and Brazilian iron ore totaled 262.2118 million mt and 81.3112 million mt, valued at $16.81 billion and $5.507 billion, respectively.
Licenses issued for imports of South African iron ore in April amounted to 4.5432 million mt, down 14.80 percent month on month, valued at $304 million, while licenses issued for iron ore from other countries amounted to 2.9950 million mt, valued at $164 million. In the first four months, the import licenses issued for iron ore from South Africa and other countries amounted to 18.8168 million mt and 16.0064 million mt, valued at $1.346 billion and $900 million, respectively.