China imports of Australian, Brazilian iron ore drop in Jan

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

26 Feb 2010

A sharp decline in shipments from Australia and Brazil accounted for most of the 33 percent drop in Chinese iron ore imports in January, according to customs data released. Deliveries from Australia stood at 19.99 million tonnes over the month, down 6.66 million tonnes compared with December. They accounted for 43 percent of the total, almost the same as last month.
Brazilian ore shipments dropped 3.17 million tonnes during the month to reach 10.23 million tonnes, amounting to 22 percent of the total, one percentage point higher than December.
Indian ore stood at 9.93 million tonnes, down 1.3 million tonnes compared with December and making up 21.3 percent, up from 18 percent last month.
Chinese traders bought more ore from smaller markets in January, with deliveries from Ukraine reaching 996,306 tonnes, up 38 percent compared with December.
Canadian ore imports reached 824,927 tonnes, up 133 percent from the previous month.

Source: Reuters