Brazil’s iron ore exports are still weak and for the third month in a row fell year on year from March.
Data from the Brazilian Ministry of Economics showed a 2.13% fall from March last year when volumes were crushed by the spreading ripples of the January 25 dam wall disaster.
Bad weather again hit exports, especially from Vale, the country’s biggest exporter (the other majors are Anglo American and CSN).
The country exported 21.71 million tonnes of iron ore last month, compared with 22.18 million tonnes the year before.
The news had little impact on global prices though – they fell 4% last week to $US83.30, down $US3.06 a tonne for 62% Fe fines delivered to northern China and remain around $US10a tonne under the end of 2019 levels.
Global supplies have been hit by Vale’s problems in Brazil since January, the impact of Cyclone Damien on Rio Tinto’s producing mines in the Pilbara.
COVID-19 shutdowns in South Africa, Iran and India have also curtailed exports from those countries until late April.
These shortfalls have helped soften the uncertainty caused by COVID-19 on Chinese steel industry demand.
However, an iron ore surplus in Europe and other parts of Asia caused by COVID-10 shutdowns of steel mills and consuming sectors (such as construction, car plans, and white goods makers) is looming from this month onwards and are expected to grow rapidly and put downward pressure on prices.
This news came Brazil’s iron ore exports in January and February fell more than 13 million tonnes less than the first two months of 2019.
Iron ore shipments from Brazil totalled 22.1 million tonnes in February 2020, down 23.6% from 28.93 million tonnes in February 2019 which was the first full month to see a fall in shipments in the wake of the January 25 Brumadinho mine dam wall collapse.
Iron ore export volumes from Brazil fell by 19.33% year-on-year in January. The country shipped 26.73 million tonnes of iron ore in the month, compared with 33.14 million tonnes in 2019 (when the disaster happened).
Volumes rose 8.34% from December’s level of 24.67 million, February’s volume fell 10% from that January level and March’s were down again.
