In April this year, Brazilian miner Vale's iron ore export volume totaled 23.73 million mt, down 1.8 percent compared to April 2016 and falling by 11.9 percent compared to March, according to Brazil's National Union of the Industry of Extraction of Iron and Base Metals (Sinferbase). In the January-April period of the current year, Vale's iron ore exports increased by 4.3 percent year on year to 99.6 million metric tons.
Meanwhile, in April this year Vale's iron ore sales in its domestic market amounted to 1.08 million mt, decreasing by nine percent year on year and down by 12.5 percent month on month. In the first four months of this year, Vale's iron ore sales in its domestic market totaled 4.45 million mt, falling by 4.9 percent as compared with the same period last year.