GENEVA - The UNCTAD IRON ORE TRUST FUND has released its 2006 statistics covering world iron ore production and trade. Canada shipped 28.3 million tonnes of iron ore in 2005, putting it behind top producers Brazil (277.7 million tonnes), Australia (257.5 million tonnes) and China (122.7 million tonnes). Canadian shipments peaked in 1997 at 38.7 million tonnes. The report is based on numbers available through the end of December 2005.
In terms of iron ore exports, Canada ranks fourth with 27.9 million tonnes, a jump of 24% from 2004 to 2005. Again the leading countries in this category were Australia and Brazil. Canada's largest market was Europe.
Surprisingly for such a large exporter, Canada is also a major importer of iron ore. In 2005 this country imported 9.6 million tonnes and ranked 13th. Almost all of the iron ore imported to Canada came from the United States. China was the largest importer (275.2 million tonnes), followed by Japan (132.3 million tonnes) and South Korea (43.5 million tonnes).
The trust will release an update including the first six months of 2006 in November. Contact Amelie Zethelius Mermet in Geneva by phone (41-22-91-75763) or fax (41-22-91-70509).
Comments