China, the world’s largest iron ore importer has imported 1.29 MnT pellets in the month of Sept’16. Pellet imports have registered a growth of 18.3% M-o-M against 1.09 MnT in Aug’16. However, on Y-o-Y basis, pellet imports have registered a downfall of 47% as it was 2.44 MnT in the same month last year.
In the first nine months of 2016, the country imported 10.94 MnT pellets, down by 42% as it was 18.9 MnT in the same time period last year.
China mainly imports high-grade pellets from India, Australia, Ukraine, Brazil, Russia etc. However, since Nov’15, imports from Brazil have come to a halt due to disruption in Samarco’s operations which generally exports 10-11 MnT every year.
In Sept’16, India exported 0.68 MnT pellets to China and become the largest export of pellets. India is actively exporting high-grade pellets to China in order to fulfill its pellet appetite. Peru turned out to be the second largest pellet exporter and exported 0.20 MnT pellets in Sept’16.
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