According to China's customs statistics, details of the imports of chrome ore in June 2012 as well as during the first half of 2012 were as per the table attached hereto.

Imports of the ore in June 2012 were 710,168 tonnes, down by 13.8% MoM from 824,157 tonnes in May 2012. According to a local media report, quayside stocks in China climbed to over 3 million tonnes at mid month of June 2012, then slid to 2.80 million tonnes at the month end without big changes so far in July 2012.

Breakdown of the imports by originating country is, with comparison to May 2012 in the parentheses after each figure, South Africa: 255,000 tonnes (down 44% MoM), Turkey: 131,000 tonnes (up by 20.4% MoM), Oman: 67,000 tonnes (up by 2.9 times), Pakistan: 54,000 tonnes (down by 9.9% MoM), Iran: 40,000 tonnes (down by 23.5% MoM), Albania: 38,000 tonnes (up by 2.1 times), Australia: 38,000 tonnes (down by 39.6% MoM) and India: 30,000 tonnes (up by 2.1 times). South Africa and Australia dropped significantly, while it is notable that imports from Oman, Albania increased and those from Turkey and India recovered.

Averaged unit price of the ore imported during June 2012 was USD 225.02 per tonne, up by 1.8% MoM from May 2012 due to the increase of higher priced ores from Turkey and India and the decrease of lower priced ores from South Africa.

Source - TEX Report Limited

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