Bloomberg reported that South Africa is poised to overtake India this year as the world’s third largest exporter of iron ore, Morgan Stanley said after cutting estimates for seaborne supply from the South Asian nation.

Indian shipments of the steelmaking raw material by sea will be 41 million tonnes, 40% less than the 68 million tonnes predicted in March

The investment bank said that South African seaborne exports will come to 53 million tonnes, 4 million tonnes more than its prior forecast.

Morgan Stanley figures show that India has ranked third among iron-ore exporters after world leader Australia and Brazil since at least 2004.

According to Morgan Stanley’s data, Indian shipments are declining after higher export duties were introduced in December. Exports from the country peaked at 114 million tonnes in 2009.

Canadian exports of the ore by sea will come to 36 million tonnes, more than double the 15 million tonne estimate made three months ago, the report showed. Total seaborne supply of iron ore this year was projected at 1.02 billion tonnes by Morgan Stanley.

Source - Bloomberg

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