Brazil's global iron ore exports rise 8% MoM in April

In line with the increase in Brazil's iron ore exports in April, the country's nine ports under Mysteel's tracking also handled more outbound iron ore cargoes during the past month. Specifically, the volume of iron ore dispatched from the nine surveyed Brazilian ports reached 28.6 million tonnes last month, 10.4% higher than the ore shipments in March, according to Mysteel's tracking.

It was the improving weather conditions that helped boost Brazil's iron ore exports last month, Mysteel Global notes. Meanwhile, the country's iron ore exports in April were also 2.4% higher compared with the same month last year, Comex data show.

As the largest buyer of Brazilian iron ore, China too witnessed more Brazil-origin iron ore heading for the country last month. Specifically, Brazil exported about 21 million tonnes of iron ore to China, rising by 8.9% on month and by 6.2% on year, and the proportion of China-bound ore in Brazil's total ore exports globally was slightly higher at 69.1%, Mysteel Global calculates based on the Comex figures.

However, the uptick in Brazil's ore exports to China last month is yet to translate to any significant increment in Brazilian ore supply in China's market, given that shipping time across the Pacific to Chinese ports is usually over 40 days.

In fact, Mysteel's data showed that Brazilian iron ore stocks at major Chinese ports eased further in April, mainly as integrated steelmakers in China maintained high operation rates at their blast furnaces amid improved steel margins, Mysteel Global observed.

The softened prices of imported iron ore also prompted mills to replenish the feedstock. Mysteel's assessment of 65% Fe Carajás fines – the core product of Brazil's mining giant Vale – had declined to $109.2/dmt CFR Qingdao as of April 30, down by $6.1/dmt from a month ago.

Written by Irene Zhuang, zhuangailing@mysteel.com

Edited by Alyssa Ren, rentingting@mysteel.com