China Knowledge reported that China, the world biggest buyer of iron ore imported 2.91 million tonnes of iron ore from India in October this year decreasing 44%YoY or 39%MoM and the share of India total iron ore exports in the Chinese market decreased to 6.4%.

The decrease is mainly due to the recent export restriction by Karnataka state of India which contributes one fourth of India iron ore exports to China. Meanwhile China tightened iron ore import policy also affected the import volume in October.

China iron ore imports edged down 13%MoM to 45.71 million tons last month with some Chinese buyers have started purchasing iron ore from Brazil whose iron ore exports to China rose 3.3%YoY to 11.78 million tonnes.

Industry insiders said most mid and small sized steel manufacturers in China prefer importing iron ore from India rather than from Brazil and Australia due to lower prices.

(Sourced from China Knowledge)