Colombia exported 31,512 mt of ferronickel in the first quarter of this year, falling 20.6 percent, with a value of $181 million, falling 31.4 percent, both year on year, as announced by the Colombian National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE). In March the country's ferronickel exports amounted to 13,654 mt, falling 1.7 percent, while the revenue from these exports was $79 million, down 18.2 percent compared to March 2012.
In March this year, Colombian iron and steel exports amounted to 22,222 mt, falling 17.9 percent, worth $92 million, down 22 percent, both compared to the same month of 2012. In the first quarter of the year, Colombia's iron and steel export value fell by 28.6 percent compared to the same period of the previous year, coming to $228 million, totaling 64,864 mt, down 16.5 percent year on year.
Meanwhile, in the first quarter Colombia imported 631,410 mt of iron and steel, rising by 10.2 percent year on year. The country's iron and steel import value decreased 5.4 percent year on year to $578 million in the first three months of the current year.