Canada’s iron ore exports surged over 10% during first half of 2016

MONTREAL (Scrap Monster): The iron ore exports by Canada surged higher by over 10% during the initial half of 2016. However, exports declined during the month of June alone. Among provinces, Quebec topped with total exports of 1.972 Mt in June ’16 and 19.463 Mt during the six month period from January to June.

The exports of iron ore concentrates from Quebec totaled 1.409 Mt during June this year, followed by Newfoundland and Labrador with 745,513 tonnes. Ontario exported 74 tonnes of iron ore concentrates during the month. The monthly iron ore concentrate exports totaled 2.155 Mt, significantly down by 11.8% when compared with the exports of 2.444 Mt during June 2015. The value of iron ore concentrate exports during the month dropped sharply by 22.6% from $174.945 million in June last year to $135.337 million in June 2016. The unit price per tonne too declined by 12.2% from $71.6 to $62.8.

The pellet exports from Newfoundland totaled 674,107 tonnes in June. The prices averaged at $74.6 per tonne. Quebec exported 563,178 tonnes of iron ore pellets at an average price of $133.3 per tonne. Ontario too reported marginal export volume of 8 tonnes during the month. The pellet exports by all provinces during the month surged higher by nearly 6% from 1.169 Mt in June ’15 to 1.237 Mt in June this year. The value of pellet exports totaled $125.4 million, whereas the export prices averaged at $101.3 per tonne.

The combined exports of pellets and concentrates by Canada totaled 3.392 Mt in June this year. The exports declined by over 6% when matched with the exports of 3.613 Mt during the same month a year before. Out of this, Quebec accounted for 1.972 Mt of exports, followed by Newfoundland and Labrador with 1.420 Mt and Ontario with 82 Mt. The value of exports totaled $260.687 million. The exports averaged at $76.9 per tonne, more or less flat when compared with the average export price of $76.3 per tonne in June last year.

During the initial six-month period of 2016, iron ore concentrates export from Quebec totaled 7.428 Mt. The second largest provincial exports were reported by Newfoundland and Labrador. The exports from the province totaled 4.189 Mt, followed by Ontario with 26,101 tonnes. The cumulative concentrates export surged higher significantly by nearly 19% from 9.808 Mt in Jan-June ’15 to 11.643 Mt during the initial half of 2016. The unit price per tonne dropped sharply by 16.1% to $60.8 per tonne during 1H 2016.

The pellet exports from Newfoundland totaled 4.611 Mt during Jan-June ‘16. The export prices from the province averaged at $67.0 per tonne. Quebec exported 3.209 Mt of iron ore pellets at an average price of $107.5 per tonne. The pellet exports by Ontario totaled 126 tonnes during the six-month period. The combined pellet exports by all provinces during the initial six months of 2016 increased marginally by 0.5% from 7.779 Mt in Jan-June ’15 to 7.820 Mt in the corresponding six-month period this year. The value of pellet exports totaled $653.7 million, whereas the export prices averaged at $83.6 per tonne.

The cumulative iron ore exports by Canada during the first six months of 2016 totaled 19.463 Mt, surging higher by nearly 11% over the previous year. The iron ore export reported by various provinces is as follows: Quebec (10.637 Mt), Newfoundland and Labrador (8.800 Mt) and Ontario (26,227 tonnes). The exports were valued at $1,361.2 million at an average of $69.9 per tonne.