France Imported 17% More Iron Ore in 2017

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): France’s iron ore imports surged higher significantly during the previous year. The production statistics published by Eurostat indicates the country’s ore imports zoomed 17% in 2017.

France imported 16.24 million tonnes (Mt) in 2017, higher by 17% when matched with the imports of 13.89 Mt in 2016. Out of this, non-agglomerated ore imports totaled 12.61 Mt, whereas agglomerated ore imports totaled 3.63 Mt. The non-agglomerated and agglomerated ore imports surged higher by 16% and 20% year-on-year respectively.

The primary supplier of ore to France in 2017 was Brazil. The imports from Brazil totaled 7.88 Mt, accounting for almost 49% of the total yearly imports by France. The imports were valued at $582.5 million, averaging at $74.0 per tonne. Canada was the second largest ore exporter with 6.75 Mt. The imports from that country averaged at $91.0 per tonne and were valued at $614.9 million. In third place was Mauritania with 386,581 tonnes. France‘s other key import sources were Liberia (371,291 tonnes), Russia (354,629 tonnes) and Mexico (232,508 tonnes).

Meantime, France’s production of pig iron and crude steel surged higher by10% and 8% respectively in 2017.

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The imports surged higher considerably by 44% from 745,247 tonnes in December 2016 to 1.073 million tonnes in December last year. The value of imports too was up by 58% from $50.71 million to $79.92 million. Meantime, the average import prices witnessed 10% jump from $68 per tonne to $74.5 per tonne. The monthly imports of non-agglomerated iron ore totaled 845,855 tonnes in December 2017, whereas the imported quantity of agglomerated ore totaled 227,020 tonnes.

Brazil emerged as the top supplier of ore to France during the month. The imports from Brazil totaled 620,448 tonnes, followed by Canada (321,762 tonnes), Russia (71,700 tonnes) and Liberia (54,135 tonnes).