Russia raises exports of iron ore in H1

According to the data released by Rudprom, the Association of Russian Iron Ore Producers, Russian exports of iron ore rose 7.5 percent year on year to 10.74 million tons in January-June of 2006. In particular, during the first half of 2006, the country exported 3.51 million tons of iron ore concentrate, down 2.6 percent, 6.42 million tons of pellets, up 16.1 percent, 274,000 tons of sintering ore, down 30.1 percent, and 532,000 tons of briquettes, up 14.8 percent from the same period of last year.