Posted on 06 Sep 2018
Australian iron ore exports fell to a five-month low of 66.54mn t in July, hit by a decline in fines shipments to China.
Shipments fell by 1.3pc from 67.39mn t in July 2017 and by 10.4pc from 74.25mn t in June to hit the lowest since the 63.55mn t exported in February. Exports on a daily basis averaged 2.15mn t/d in July, below even the 2.27mn t/d shipped in February, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said.
Total fines shipments fell to a five-month low of 50.17mn t in July from 51.38mn t in July 2017 and 57.19mn t in June. July shipments were the lowest since 48.71mn t in February. Total lump shipments were 16.29mn t in July, compared to 15.98mn t in July 2017 and 16.8mn t in June.
Fines shipments to China also fell to a five-month low of 41.94mn t in July, down from 42.75mn t a year earlier and 48.1mn t in June to the lowest since 39.93mn t in February. China's share of total iron ore exports from Australia was 81.5pc in July, relatively steady with 81.7pc in both July 2017 and June.
Fines shipments to Japan eased to 3.15mn t in July from 3.32mn t in June and 3.72mn t in July 2017. Exports to South Korea rose a seven-month high of 3.88mn t, up from 3.07mn t in July 2017 and 3.32mn t in June. This was the highest since the 3.88mn t shipped in December 2017.
China again dominated trade in lump, taking 12.28mn t in July, up from 12.26mn t in July 2017 but just below 12.37mn t in June.
The fall in Australia's total iron ore shipments was mirrored by a decline in exports from Port Hedland in Western Australia (WA), the country's largest iron ore exporting facility. Port Hedland shipments slid to 40.7mn t in July from 47.3mn t in June, but were still up on the 37.88mn t shipped in July 2017.
No monthly data are available from Australia's second-largest iron ore export facility, Port Dampier, which like Port Hedland is located in the Pilbara region of WA.
The Argus ICX, the price for 62pc Fe iron ore fines delivered to China, averaged $64.09/t in July, down from $67.21/t in July 2017 and $64.45/t in June.
Australia's average iron ore export price was $52.82/t in July compared to $56.21/t a year earlier and $51.87/t in June. The average export price is calculated based on the US-Australia dollar exchange rate of $0.7406 used by the ABS.
The average lump export price edged higher to $69.44/t in July from $66.71/t in June but was down slightly from $69.58/t in July 2017. The average iron ore fines price was $47.34 /t in July, down from $52/t a year earlier and $47.80/t in June.
Australian iron ore export sales revenue was A$4.75bn ($3.51bn) in July, down from A$5.14bn in June and A$4.86bn in July 2017. Australia shipped a total of 487.81mn t in the first seven months of this year, up by 4.5pc from 466.78mn t in the same period in 2017.
