According to China's customs statistics, details of the imports of chrome ore in October 2012 as well as during the ten months (January to October) of 2012 were as per the table attached hereto.
Imports of the ore in October were 685,048 tons (weight of the ore), down 28.4% from September, recording the lowest monthly imports since February 2012 when the imports were 684,037 tonnes.
Breakdown of the imports by originating country is, in thousand tons with comparison to September 2012 in the parentheses after each figure,
South Africa: 350 (down 11.1% from September
Turkey: 104 down 55.7%
India: 48 up 23.4 times
Albania: 41 down 23.1%
Iran: 39 down 1.5%
Oman: 24 down 12.0%
Australia: 24 down 80.7%
Pakistan: 19 down 46.1%
The sharp drops in the imports from the biggest two sources, South Africa and Turkey were the reason of the month's decrease, despite the increases in the imports from India and Albania. The imports from Australia that sharply increased in September fell in October.