Iron Ore Exports in 2018 by the U.S. Surged 30%

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The latest trade data published by the U.S. Census Bureau indicates that iron ore exports surged higher significantly during the previous year. On the contrary, imports reported modest decline, when compared with 2017.

According to data, the U.S iron ore exports were valued at $980.77 million in 2018, higher by 3.42% when compared with the year before that. It must be noted that the country’s iron ore exports had totaled $752.02 million during the entire year 2017.

The U.S. exports of iron ores and concentrates to Canada were valued at $783.47 million. Canada received nearly 80% of the total U.S. exports during 2018. The exports to Japan were valued at $131.35 million. The other major destinations of ore exports from the U.S. were Mexico ($57.68 million), Germany ($7.42 million) and Peru ($390,000). These five countries accounted for almost 99.95% of the ores and concentrates exported by the U.S during the entire year 2018.

The U.S imports recorded modest decline by 6.2% over the previous year to total $589.7 million during 2018. This compared with the full year exports of $628.41 million in 2017.

The top five exporters during the previous year were Brazil ($364.8 million), Canada ($97.59 million), Sweden ($66.08 million), Russia ($24.16 million) and South Africa ($1.7 million). The imports from other countries were negligible during this period. Also, 95.7% of all imports of iron ores and concentrates to the U.S. were shipped from the above five top foreign markets. The combined shipments from the above countries totaled $564.34 million.