Brazilian iron ore exports up 33% in December amid higher prices

Brazil’s iron ore exports increased by a third in December compared with a year earlier, according to statistics from the country’s economy ministry.

January 5, 2021

By Felipe Peroni

It shipped 33.17 million tonnes of the steelmaking raw material last month, compared with 24.99 million tonnes in December 2019.

Strong demand for steel in in China has led to mills in the country increasing their iron ore consumption, pushing prices for the steelmaking raw material to their highest in at least nine years.

Fastmarkets’ daily index for iron ore 62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao averaged $155.35 per tonne in December 2020, up by 69% compared with $91.85 per tonne a year earlier.

The index was at $165.29 per tonne on Monday January 4.

Prices for Brazilian iron ore averaged $90.50 per tonne fob in December, up by 51.08% from $59.90 per tonne a year earlier, according to Brazil’s economy ministry.

The higher prices and volumes resulted in revenues from these exports doubling year on year to $3 billion last month, compared with $1.5 billion in December 2019.

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