The China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) has announced that in March this year China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOC) issued iron ore import licenses for a total of 117.8709 million mt, up 39 percent month on month, valued at $6.188 billion. In the January-March period of the current year, the MOC issued iron ore import licenses for a total of 346.6582 million mt, valued at $16.352 billion.
In March this year, the iron ore import licenses issued by China for Australian and Brazilian iron ore amounted to 72.9838 million mt and 23.4824 million mt respectively, up 32.65 percent and rising by 43.60 percent month on month, with respective values of $3.650 billion and $1.433 billion. In the January-March period of the current year, the iron ore import licenses issued for Australian and Brazilian iron ore totaled 217.2932 million mt and 72.9678 million mt, valued at $9.914 billion and $3.915 billion, respectively.
Licenses issued for imports of South African iron ore in March amounted to 5.0956 million mt, up 23.73 percent month on month, valued at $248 million, while licenses issued for iron ore from other countries amounted to 11.6904 million mt, valued at $671 million. In the January-March period this year, the import licenses issued for iron ore from South Africa and other countries amounted to 14.34 million mt and 27.9447 million mt, valued at $659 million and $1.317 billion, respectively.