On May 20, the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) announced that in April this year China's Ministry of Commerce issued import licenses for a total of 108.8685 million mt of iron ore, down 3.87 percent month on month, valued at $11.892 billion. In the January-April period of the current year, iron ore import licenses were issued for a total of 435.4792 million mt, valued at $50.483 billion.
In April this year, the iron ore import licenses issued by China for Australian and Brazilian iron ore amounted to 59.3709 million mt and 21.5836 million mt respectively, up 3.8 percent and 10.85 percent month on month. In the January-April period, the iron ore import licenses issued by China for Australian and Brazilian iron ore totaled 224.0969 million mt and 79.7688 million mt respectively.
In addition, licenses issued for imports of South African iron ore in April this year amounted to 5.2469 million mt, up 16.26 percent year on year, while licenses issued for South African iron ore in the first four months totaled 21.1868 million mt.