The China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) has announced that in May this year China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOC) issued iron ore import licenses for a total of 113.8035 million mt, down 2.43 percent month on month, valued at $6.960 billion. In the January-May period of the current year, the MOC issued iron ore import licenses for a total of 576.8174 million mt, valued at $29.866 billion.
In May this year, the iron ore import licenses issued by China for Australian and Brazilian iron ore amounted to 70.9307 million mt and 22.8697 million mt respectively, up 0.7 percent and decreasing by 5.99 percent month on month, with respective values of $4.296 billion and $1.508 billion. In the January-May period of the current year, the iron ore import licenses issued for Australian and Brazilian iron ore totaled 358.2213 million mt and 120.3079 million mt, valued at $18.11 billion and $6.941 billion, respectively.
Licenses issued for imports of South African iron ore in May amounted to 5.1039 million mt, down 5.51 percent month on month, valued at $330 million, while licenses issued for iron ore from other countries amounted to 14.8991 million mt, valued at $825 million. In the January-May period this year, the import licenses issued for iron ore from South Africa and other countries amounted to 24.7573 million mt and 73.5309 million mt, valued at $1.282 million and $3.534 billion, respectively.