BEIJING: China imported 51.4 million mt of iron ore from Australia in June, up 3.78% year on year but down 6.12% month on month, according to data released Friday by the General Administration of Customs.
Imports from Brazil, China’s second-largest iron ore supplier, jumped 14.98% year on year to 15.22 million mt in June, but fell 9.38% from the previous month. “Seasonally, demand is weak for seaborne iron ore during the month of June. There were also mandatory sintering restrictions that reduced demand,” said an international trader.
Iron ore supply from Australia and Brazil represented 81.59% of China’s total imports in June, down only 0.86 percentage points from May. China received a total of 81.63 million mt of iron ore in June, down 5.90% from the previous month but up 8.9% from June 2015. China, the world’s largest iron ore consumer, imported 493.88 million mt of iron ore in the first half of 2016, up 9% from the same period last year.
