Indian iron ore exports to China more than doubled year on year in the January-June period this year to 20 million mt, reaching an eight-year high, according to a Bloomberg report citing China’s customs data. Stronger crude steel production in China and some disruptions of iron ore supplies, from Brazil for instance, earlier this year led to the increase in shipments from India. The lockdown in the country has not fully stopped port operations, despite expectations, and iron ore suppliers have attempted to increase shipments abroad to offset the impact from steel mill stoppages inside the country.
However, Indian iron ore exports constituted a small proportion of total imports into China, with the latter sourcing an estimated 65 percent of its total demand from Australia and 17 percent from Brazil of the total 547 million mt shipped into China during the first six months of the current calendar year.
According to financial services and rating agency ICRA, higher iron ore exports from India were a positive for Indian commercial miners, enabling them to liquidate inventories at higher prices at a time when domestic demand continued to be weak.