On June 20, the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) announced that in May this year China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) issued iron ore import licenses for a total of 99.6534 million mt, down 8.46 percent month on month, valued at $10.496 billion. In the January-May period, iron ore import licenses were issued for a total of 524.2146 million mt, valued at $60.868 billion.
In May this year, the iron ore import licenses issued by China for Australian and Brazilian iron ore amounted to 58.5738 million mt and 17.3366 million mt respectively, down 1.34 percent and 19.67 percent month on month. In the January-May period, the iron ore import licenses issued by China for Australian and Brazilian iron ore totaled 282.9303 million mt and 96.1606 million mt. Licenses issued for imports of South African iron ore in May amounted to 3.7739 million mt, down 28.07 percent, valued at $433 million, while in January-May licenses issued for South African ore totaled 24.9607 million mt.