BERLIN: According to the latest import statistics published by EUROSTAT, the iron ore imports by Germany dropped by nearly 15% during the month of June ’15. This is in comparison with the imports during same month the previous year.
The iron ore imports by the country during June ’15 totaled 3.194 million tonnes, down 14.7% when compared with the imports during same month a year before. The iron ore imports had totaled 3.744 million tonnes during June ‘14. Meantime, the average import prices dropped sharply from $111.9 per tonne in June ’14 to $66.3 per tonne in June this year.
The total value of imports amounted to $211.814 million during June this year, significantly lower by 49.5% when compared with the import value of $419.081 million during the previous year.
The largest iron ore exporter to Germany during June this year was the Netherlands. Germany’s iron ore imports from the country totaled 1.736 million tonnes, accounting for more than 54% of the total imports by Germany during the period. The iron ore imports from Netherlands averaged at $62.70 per tonne during the month.
The second largest exporter to Germany during June ‘15 was Brazil with 812,212 tonnes. In third place was Canada with exports to Germany totaling 202,495 tonnes during the month. The other key exporters of iron ore to Germany were South Africa (131,455 tonnes), Sweden (83,018 tonnes) and Ukraine (81,305 tonnes).
The cumulative iron ore imports by Germany during Jan-June ’15 declined marginally by 1.5% to total 21.063 million tonnes. The average import price has dropped by 45.3% during this period to $69.7 per tonne from $127.5 per tonne during Jan-June ’14.
The largest exporter of iron ore to Germany during the initial half of the year was the Netherlands with 11.416 million tonnes, followed by Brazil (4.585 million tonnes) and Sweden (2.117 million tonnes).
