The China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) has announced that in December last year China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOC) issued iron ore import licenses for a total of 88.0937 million mt, down 20.08 percent month on month, valued at $6.382 billion. In 2016, the MOC issued iron ore import licenses for a total of 1.34668 billion mt, valued at $75.974 billion.
In December last year, the iron ore import licenses issued by China for Australian and Brazilian iron ore amounted to 57.352 million mt and 16.2817 million mt respectively, down 40.97 percent and 76.45 percent month on month, with respective values of $4.091 billion and $1.295 billion. In 2016, the iron ore import licenses issued for Australian and Brazilian iron ore totaled 841.1382 million mt and 281.733 million mt, valued at $46.589 billion and $17.147 billion, respectively.
Licenses issued for imports of South African iron ore in December amounted to 3.7218 million mt, down 83.6 percent month on month, valued at $267 million, while licenses issued for iron ore from other countries amounted to 10.7382 million mt, valued at $729 million. In 2016, the import licenses issued for iron ore from South Africa and other countries amounted to 59.2311 million mt and 164.582 million mt, valued at $3.497 billion and $8.741 billion, respectively.