Australia – world’s largest iron ore exporter has recorded a decline in iron ore shipment for Oct’19, according to the vessel line up data maintained with SteelMint. Australia’s iron ore export shipments recorded at 68.33 MnT in Oct’19, down 4% as compared to 71.25 MnT in Sep’19.
The fall is amid falling Chinese demand and rising port inventories. Chinese mills depicted week long National holidays from 1st Oct inhibiting imports. Also, China’s top steelmaking city of Tangshan issued second level pollution alert in Oct affecting production further. Besides, towards early Oct’19 mills in Tangshan were ordered to reduce sintering, pelletizing and blast furnace operations from Oct. 10 until Oct. 31. The iron ore inventory at major Chinese ports increased to 129.95 MnT towards early Oct’19 as against 126.7 MnT towards early Sep’19, as per data compiled by SteelHome consultancy.
For CY’19 (Jan-Oct), the total Australian iron ore exports recorded declined to 696.5 MnT as against 708 MnT for the same period CY’18 (Jan-Oct’18).
Australian exports to China down 5% in Oct’19-:
China marked the largest importer of Australian iron ore in Oct’19 at 55.99 MnT, down 5% as against 59.15 MnT in Sep’19. Japan stood second-largest importer for the month at 4.72 MnT (down 11% M-o-M) followed by Korea at 5.57 MnT.
Australian exports to India recorded nil for the seventh consecutive month.
| Country | Oct 19 | Sep-19 |
| China | 55.99 | 59.15 |
| Japan | 4.72 | 5.30 |
| Korea | 5.57 | 4.06 |
| Taiwan | 1.20 | 1.49 |
| Vietnam | 0.34 | 0.34 |
| Indonesia | 0.20 | 0.50 |
| Malaysia | 0.31 | 0.14 |
| Grand Total | 68.33 | 71.25 |
Qty in MnT
Source: SteelMint Stats and GAC Shipping,
Provisional Data
Port Hedland iron ore exports stable M-o-M-: In Oct’19, Port Hedland exported 41.69 MnT, stable on monthly basis. Walcott stood second largest exporter at 15.26 MnT, down 11% against 17.18 MnT in Sep’19, followed by Dampier at 9.91 MnT (down 9% M-o-M) .
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