Canada's iron ore exports up 23% during August

MONTREAL (Scrap Monster): The iron ore exports by Canada surged higher by over 23% during the month of August this year. The cumulative exports during the initial eight-month period of the year too were up by 13.5% year-on-year. Among provinces, Newfoundland topped with total exports of 2.444 Mt in August ’16. Quebec was the leading exporter during the eight month period from January to August with total exports of 14.246 Mt.

The exports of iron ore concentrates from Newfoundland and Labrador totaled 1.698 Mt during August this year, followed by Quebec with 1.350 Mt. Ontario exported 97,813 tonnes of iron ore concentrates during the month. The monthly iron ore concentrate exports totaled 3.146 Mt, significantly higher by 34.7% when compared with the exports of 2.335 Mt during August 2015. The value of iron ore concentrate exports during the month increased sharply by 60.4% from $128.189 million in August last year to $205.622 million in August 2016. The unit price per tonne too increased by 19% from $54.9 to $65.4.

The pellet exports from Newfoundland totaled 745,924 tonnes in August. The prices averaged at $91.0 per tonne. Quebec exported 378,088 tonnes of iron ore pellets at an average price of $113.3 per tonne. Ontario reported Nil exports during the month. The combined pellet exports by all provinces during the month dropped marginally by 0.2% from 1.126 Mt in August ’15 to 1.124 Mt in August this year. The value of pellet exports totaled $102.3 million, whereas the export prices averaged at $91.0 per tonne.

The combined exports of pellets and concentrates by Canada totaled 4.270 Mt in August this year. The exports surged higher by 23.4% when matched with the exports of 3.461 Mt during the same month a year before. Out of this, Newfoundland and Labrador accounted for 2.444 Mt of exports, followed by Quebec with 1.729 Mt and Ontario with 97,813 tonnes. The value of exports totaled $307.955 million. The exports averaged at $72.10 per tonne, slightly higher by 9.7% when compared with the average export price of $65.7 per tonne in August last year.

During the initial eight-month period of 2016, iron ore concentrates export from Quebec totaled 10.130 Mt. The second largest provincial exports were reported by Newfoundland and Labrador. The exports from the province totaled 6.551 Mt, followed by Ontario with 151,405 tonnes. The cumulative concentrates export surged higher significantly by nearly 19.7% from 14.061 Mt in Jan-August ’15 to 16.832 Mt during the initial eight months of 2016. The unit price per tonne dropped sharply by 9% to $61.5 per tonne during Jan-Aug ‘16.

The pellet exports from Newfoundland totaled 6.275 Mt during Jan-August ‘16. The export prices from the province averaged at $68.70 per tonne. Quebec exported 4.117 Mt of iron ore pellets at an average price of $107.9 per tonne. The pellet exports by Ontario totaled 126 tonnes during the eight-month period. The combined pellet exports by all provinces during the initial eight months of 2016 increased marginally by 4.7% from 9.922 Mt in Jan-August ’15 to 10.392 Mt in the corresponding eight-month period this year. The value of pellet exports totaled $875.565 million, whereas the export prices averaged at $84.3 per tonne.

The cumulative iron ore exports by Canada during the first eight months of 2016 totaled 27.224 Mt, surging higher by 13.5% over the previous year. The iron ore export reported by various provinces is as follows: Quebec (14.246 Mt), Newfoundland and Labrador (12.826 Mt) and Ontario (151,531 tonnes). The exports were valued at $1,191 million at an average of $70.2 per tonne.