Germany's Iron Ore imports declined 13% in September

BERLIN (Scrap Monster): The iron ore imports by Germany declined significantly during the month of September last year, says latest trade statistics released by Eurostat.

The country’s iron ore imports totaled 3.353 million tonnes during the month. This is down by 13.4% when matched with the imports during the corresponding month in 2015. The country had imported 3.869 million tonnes of iron ore during September 2015. Also, the total value of imports by the country decreased sharply by nearly 15% over the year from $248.474 million in September 2015 to $211.405 million in September 2016. The average import price too has dropped marginally by 1.8% year-on-year to $63.1 per tonne in September last year. The German iron ore imports had averaged at $64.2 per tonne in September 2015.

The largest exporter of iron ore to Germany during the month was the Netherlands. The imports from the Netherlands totaled 1.471 million tonnes, valued at $88.127 million. The import prices averaged at $59.90 per tonne. Brazil exported 769,760 tonnes of iron ore to Germany during the month. The imports from Brazil were valued at $50.670 million. The average price of import stood at $65.8 per tonne. In third place was Canada with 504,208 tonnes. The total value of imports from the country amounted to $32.414 million. The imports from the country averaged at $64.3 per tonne during September 2016. The other key exporters of iron ore to Germany were Sweden (271,389 tonnes), South Africa (142,012 tonnes) and Ukraine (98,984 tonnes).

The imports of agglomerated iron ore during September ’16 totaled 1.058 million tonnes, significantly lower by nearly 23.5% when compared with the same month a year before. The German agglomerated iron ore imports had totaled 1.384 million tonnes during September 2015. The value of imports amounted to $87.89 million during Nov ‘16. The import value has dropped sharply by 25% when compared with the previous year. The German iron ore imports were valued at $117.136 million during September 2015. The import prices of agglomerated ore saw marginal decline of 1.9% over the year. The average import price edged lower from $84.6 per tonne in Sep ‘15 to $83.0 per tonne in Sep ‘16.

The largest exporter of agglomerated iron ore to Germany was the Netherlands. The exports from the country totaled 361,894 tonnes. The value of iron ore imports from the Netherlands totaled $31.685 million. The imports averaged at $87.6 per tonne. The other key exporters during the month were Brazil (233,823 tonnes), Canada (182,786 tonnes) and Sweden (142,293 tonnes).

The imports of non agglomerated iron ore totaled 2.294 million tonnes, accounting for over 68% of the total imports by Germany during September last year. The non-agglomerated iron ore imports by the country declined by nearly 8% when matched with 2.485 million tonnes imported during September 2015. The value of non-agglomerated iron ore imports has dropped by 6.0% year-on-year to $123.517 million when matched with $131.338 million a year before.

The country imported non-agglomerated iron ore mainly from the Netherlands. The imports from the Netherlands totaled 1.109 million tonnes at an average price of $50.9 per tonne. The value of iron ore imports from the Netherlands totaled $56.442 million. The other primary exporters of non-agglomerated iron ore to China during September 2016 were Brazil (535,937 tonnes), Canada (321,422 tonnes) and South Africa (143,012 tonnes).

The cumulative iron ore imports by Germany during the initial nine-month period of 2016 totaled 30.619 million tonnes. The imports during the period were down by 6.3% when matched with the imports of 32.675 million tonnes during the corresponding nine-month period in 2015. The agglomerated ore imports totaled 11.330 million tonnes, whereas the non-agglomerated imports totaled 19.289 million tonnes.