World’s second-largest iron ore exporter, Brazil has exported around 28.9 MnT iron ore in Apr’16. Iron ore exports fell by around 4% in Apr’16 against 30.3 MnT in the month of Mar’16.
Alongside, Brazilian iron ore exports volumes on annual basis marginally increased by around 0.8% in the same consecutive month prior this year.
Brazilian Samarco, a 50:50 joint venture between Vale and BHP Billiton, which collapsed in the month of Nov’15 and operations had been halted on environmental destructions, had impacted Brazilian iron ore exports. Production of concentrated iron ore from Samarco was 25.36 MnT in 2015, down from 26.29 MnT in 2014. It is expected that Samarco will resume operations by the end of this year, although the timing is uncertain.
The average export price for Brazilian iron ore in April was around USD 33.10/MT FOB Brazil, up by USD 6.5/MT from Mar’16 as it was USD 26.6/MT. Meanwhile, export prices drop by USD 11.3/MT Y-o-Y as it was USD 44.4/MT in the same corresponding month last year.
Recently, Brazilian Vale, world’s largest iron ore producer, revised its iron ore production guidance by 10 MnT, expects to produce around 340 MnT in 2016. Vale’s production cost continue to fall. The cost of iron ore delivered in China declined from USD31/MT in the previous quarter to USD 22/MT in Mar’16 quarter.
Vale’s S11D project has achieved 73% progress and is likely to start by the end of 2016.
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