On March 12, the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) announced that in February this year China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) issued iron ore import licenses for a total of 87.96 million mt, down 28.97 percent month on month, valued at $5.998 billion. In the January-February period, the MOC issued iron ore import licenses for a total of 212.68 million mt, valued at $14.882 billion.
In February this year, the iron ore import licenses issued by China for Australian and Brazilian iron ore amounted to 52.2521 million mt and 19.9940 million mt respectively, down 31.31 percent and 16.55 percent month on month, with respective values of $3.466 billion and $1.453 billion. In the January-February period of the current year, the iron ore import licenses issued for Australian and Brazilian iron ore totaled 128.6725 million mt and 44.4841 million mt, valued at $4.445 billion and $3.267 billion, respectively.
Licenses issued for imports of South African iron ore in February amounted to 3.7504 million mt, down 26.39 percent month on month, valued at $281 million, while licenses issued for iron ore from other countries amounted to 2.3241 million mt, valued at $130 million. In the January-February period of the current year, the import licenses issued for iron ore from South Africa and other countries amounted to 8.8454 million mt and 8.7299 million mt, valued at $682 million and $525 million, respectively.