Brazil, the 2nd largest exporting country after Australia, exported 25.3 MnT iron ore in Jan’16. Exports in Jan’16 drastically dropped down by 36% M-o-M as compared to Dec’15 (39.5 MnT) which was monthly record high.
However, the country exported 366.18 MnT iron ore in 2015 which was up by 6.3% Y-o-Y as compared to 344.38 MnT in 2014.
Meanwhile, if we talk about on Y-o-Y basis, Brazil iron ore exports grew by 7.4% as it was 23.3 MnT in Jan’15.
The major reason behind lesser exports can be believed as suspension of operations at Vale’s Tubarao Port in mid Jan’16. The suspension of operations was done by Brazilian court on some pollution concerns. Tubarao Port handles around 300 MnT of annual iron ore exports in Brazil.
The well known Brazillian Vale, the largest iron ore producer, is on track to start its S11D iron ore project by the end of 2017 which will add around 90 MnT iron ore. So once the S11 D project will come online,Vale will able to handle even an iron ore price of USD 35/MT.
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