The China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) has announced that in October this year China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) issued iron ore import licenses for a total of 89.9377 million mt, down 18.85 percent month on month, valued at $7.056 billion. In the first 10 months of the year, iron ore import licenses were issued for a total of 1.028227 billion mt, valued at $105.09 billion.
In October this year, the iron ore import licenses issued by China for Australian and Brazilian iron ore amounted to 56.2130 million mt and 15.7038 million mt respectively, down 16.87 percent and decreasing by 26.81 percent month on month. In the January-October period, the iron ore import licenses issued by China for Australian and Brazilian iron ore totaled 590.7904 million mt and 189.7037 million mt respectively.
Licenses issued for imports of South African iron ore in the given month amounted to 3.7418 million mt, up 11.05 percent, valued at $327 million, while licenses issued for iron ore from other countries amounted to 4.0719 million mt, valued at $279 million. In the January-October period, the import licenses issued by China for iron ore from South Africa and other countries amounted to 45.6556 million mt and 67.3760 million mt respectively.