Canada's iron ore exports dropped heavily by 11% in February

MONTREAL (Scrap Monster): The iron ore exports by Canada declined sharply by over 11% during the month of February this year. The cumulative exports during the initial two-month period of the year were up by 5% year-on-year. Among provinces, Quebec topped with total exports of 1.686 Mt in February ’17. The province was the leading exporter during the two month period from January to February with total exports of 6.153 Mt.

The exports of iron ore concentrates from Quebec totaled 1.197 Mt during February this year, followed by Newfoundland and Labrador with 448,995 tonnes. Ontario exported just 73 tonnes of iron ore concentrates during the month. The monthly iron ore concentrate exports totaled 1.646 Mt, down considerably by 20.1% when compared with the exports of 2.059 Mt during February 2016. The value of iron ore concentrate exports during the month increased modestly by 7.1% from $115.378 million in February last year to $123.518 million in February 2017. The unit price per tonne too increased sharply by 33.9% from $56.0 to $75.0.

The pellet exports from Newfoundland totaled 833,870 tonnes in February. The prices averaged at $107.0 per tonne. Quebec exported 489,424 tonnes of iron ore pellets at an average price of $108.3 per tonne. Ontario exported 38 tonnes during the month. The combined pellet exports by all provinces during the month increased marginally by 3.3% from 1.282 Mt in February ’16 to 1.323 Mt in February this year. The value of pellet exports totaled $142.2 million, whereas the export prices averaged at $107.5 per tonne.

The combined exports of pellets and concentrates by Canada totaled 2.969 Mt in February this year. The exports dropped considerably by 11.1% when matched with the exports of 3.340 Mt during the same month a year before. Out of this, Quebec accounted for 1.686 Mt of exports, followed by Newfoundland and Labrador with 1.283 Mt and Ontario with 111 tonnes. The value of exports totaled $265.744 million. The exports averaged at $89.50 per tonne, significantly higher by over 37% when compared with the average export price of $65.2 per tonne in February last year.

During the initial two-month period of 2017, iron ore concentrates export from Quebec totaled 2.292 Mt. The second largest provincial exports were reported by Newfoundland and Labrador. The exports from the province totaled 1.201 Mt, followed by Ontario with 73 tonnes. The cumulative concentrates export edged lower by 7.2% from 3.762 Mt in Jan-February ’17 to 3.493 Mt during the initial two months of 2016. The unit price per tonne increased sharply by 32% to $76.0 per tonne during Jan-Feb ‘17.

The pellet exports from Newfoundland totaled 1.480 Mt during Jan-February ‘17. The export prices from the province averaged at $106.3 per tonne. Quebec exported 1.180 Mt of iron ore pellets at an average price of $109.7 per tonne. The pellet exports by Ontario totaled 38 tonnes during the two-month period. The combined pellet exports by all provinces during the initial two months of 2017 increased significantly by 26.6% from 2.101 Mt in Jan-February ’16 to 2.660 Mt in the corresponding two-month period this year. The value of pellet exports totaled $286.879 million, whereas the export prices averaged at $107.8 per tonne.

The cumulative iron ore exports by Canada during the first two months of 2017 totaled 6.153 Mt, surging higher by 5.0% over the previous year. The iron ore export reported by various provinces is as follows: Quebec (3.472 Mt), Newfoundland and Labrador (2.681 Mt) and Ontario (111 tonnes). The exports were valued at $552.310 million at an average of $89.8 per tonne.