The China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) has announced that in May this year China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) issued iron ore import licenses for a total of 101.6714 million mt, up 0.99 percent month on month, valued at $5.740 billion. In the first five months of the year, the MOC issued iron ore import licenses for a total of 519.0859 million mt, valued at $32.950 billion.
In May this year, the iron ore import licenses issued by China for Australian and Brazilian iron ore amounted to 61.8766 million mt and 23.6667 million mt respectively, down 4.84 percent and increasing by 35.51 percent month on month, with respective values of $3.329 billion and $1.513 billion. In the first five months of the current year, the iron ore import licenses issued for Australian and Brazilian iron ore totaled 324.0518 million mt and 104.4595 million mt, valued at $20.14 billion and $6.99 billion, respectively.
Licenses issued for imports of South African iron ore in May amounted to 4.5295 million mt, down 0.3 percent month on month, valued at $274 million, while licenses issued for iron ore from other countries amounted to 2.6769 million mt, valued at $149 million. In the first five months, the import licenses issued for iron ore from South Africa and other countries amounted to 23.3068 million mt and 19.4071 million mt, valued at $1.617 billion and $1.047 million, respectively.