Iron Ore Shipment by Canada Declined 17% in April

VANCOUVER (Scrap Monster): The iron ore exports by Canada declined sharply by nearly 17% during the month of April this year. However, the cumulative exports during the initial four-month period of the year were up by 4.4% year-on-year. Among provinces, Quebec topped with total exports of 1.517 Mt in April ’17. The province was the leading exporter during the four month period from January to April with total exports of 5.944 Mt.

The exports of iron ore concentrates from Quebec totaled 1.243 Mt in April this year, followed by Newfoundland and Labrador with 308,949 tonnes. Ontario exported just 37 tonnes of iron ore concentrates during the month. The monthly iron ore concentrate exports totaled 1.552 Mt, down considerably by 8.4% when compared with the exports of 1.694 Mt during April 2016. The value of iron ore concentrate exports during the month increased modestly by 10.8% from $114.327 million in April last year to $126.659 million in April 2017. The unit price per tonne too increased sharply by 21% from $67.5 to $81.6.

The pellet exports from Newfoundland totaled 772,279 tonnes in April. The prices averaged at $122.5 per tonne. Quebec exported 274,335 tonnes of iron ore pellets at an average price of $93.4 per tonne. Ontario’s exports reduced to zero during the month. The combined pellet exports by all provinces during the month declined sharply by 26.5% from 1.425 Mt in April ’16 to 1.047 Mt in April this year. The value of pellet exports totaled $120.3 million, whereas the export prices averaged at $114.9 per tonne.

The combined exports of pellets and concentrates by Canada totaled 2.599 Mt in April this year. The exports dropped considerably by 16.7% when matched with the exports of 3.118 Mt during the same month a year before. Out of this, Quebec accounted for 1.517 Mt of exports, followed by Newfoundland and Labrador with 1.081 Mt and Ontario with 37 tonnes. The value of exports totaled $246.9 million. The exports averaged at $95.0 per tonne, significantly higher by over 27% when compared with the average export price of $74.7 per tonne in April last year.

During the initial four-month period of 2017, iron ore concentrates export from Quebec totaled 3.975 Mt. The second largest provincial exports were reported by Newfoundland and Labrador. The exports from the province totaled 2.503 Mt, followed by Ontario with 110 tonnes. The cumulative concentrates export edged lower by 10.3% from 7.224 Mt in Jan-April ’16 to 6.478 Mt during the initial four months of 2017. The unit price per tonne increased sharply by over 28% to $76.5 per tonne during Jan-Apr ‘17.

The pellet exports from Newfoundland totaled 3.184 Mt during Jan-April ‘17. The export prices from the province averaged at $112.7 per tonne. Quebec exported 1.969 Mt of iron ore pellets at an average price of $107.7 per tonne. The pellet exports by Ontario totaled 68 tonnes during the four-month period. The combined pellet exports by all provinces during the initial four months of 2017 increased marginally by 4.3% from 4.940 Mt in Jan-April ’16 to 5.153 Mt in the corresponding four-month period this year. The value of pellet exports totaled $570.8 million, whereas the export prices averaged at $110.8 per tonne.

The cumulative iron ore exports by Canada during the first four months of 2017 totaled 11.631 Mt, dropping marginally by 4.4% over the previous year. The iron ore export reported by various provinces is as follows: Quebec (5.944 Mt), Newfoundland and Labrador (5.687 Mt), Ontario (178 tonnes) and Nunavut (2 tonnes). The exports were valued at $1.066 billion at an average of $91.7 per tonne.