Exports of iron ore and pellets from India fell 6 percent year-on-year in January 2017

Exports of iron ore and pellets to India decreased by 6.25 percent year-on-year to about 3.3 million tons in January, according to BigMint, from 3.52 million tons in December. Monthly exports amounted to 2.94 million tons of iron ore and 0.36 million tons of pellets. Exports of iron ore and pellets have remained volatile over the past six months.

According to BigMint, exports of iron ore and pellets increased from 2.04 million tons in January 25 to 3.3 million tons in January 26.

The largest exporters, ports

Exports to China decreased from 2.79 million tons in December to 2.56 million tons in January. Notably, Malaysia almost doubled its imports from India to about 0.27 million tons this month from 0.13 million tons a month earlier.

Rungta Mines and Vedanta remained the largest exporters, accounting for 1.33 million tons and 0.48 million tons, respectively. They were followed by Arcelor Mittal and Nippon Steel and Ramgad Minerals and Mining with 0.3 and 0.16 million tons in January.

The East coast remained active throughout with large shipments from Paradeep (1.85 million tons), Dhamra (0.49 million tons) and the port of Krishnapatnam (0.27 million tons).

It is noteworthy that inventory stacking weighed any urgent purchase needs, limiting the closing of transactions.

Why did iron ore exports slow down

Weak demand in China: Reserves of iron ore and pellets in China were recorded at 161.24 million tons in January 26, an increase of 5.5% against 152.8 million tons in