On August 14, the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) announced that in July this year China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) issued iron ore import licenses for a total of 102.2441 million mt, down 2.60 percent month on month, valued at $9.029 billion. In the first seven months of the year, iron ore import licenses were issued for a total of 729.8798 million mt, valued at $79.828 billion.
In July this year, the iron ore import licenses issued by China for Australian and Brazilian iron ore amounted to 60.9880 million mt and 22.5656 million mt respectively, down 4.02 percent and up 33.14 percent month on month. In the January-July period, the iron ore import licenses issued by China for Australian and Brazilian iron ore totaled 276.2010 million mt and 135.4226 million mt respectively.
Licenses issued for imports of South African iron ore in the given month amounted to 3.4017 million mt, down 42.51 percent, valued at $322 million, while licenses issued for iron ore from other countries amounted to 4.5960 million mt, valued at $374 million. In the January-July period, the import licenses issued by China for iron ore from South Africa and other countries amounted to 34.2803 million mt and 61.2633 million mt respectively.
