São Paulo – Brazil reduced its revenues with the export of iron ore to the Arab world in the first eleven months of this year. According to figures disclosed by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, sales of the product to the countries of the League of Arab States dropped from US$2.75 billion from January to November last year to US$ 2.25 billion in the same period this year. The reduction was 18%.
In volume, however, sales grew 4% in the same comparison, showing that Brazil exported more ore at lower prices to the Arabs this year. While in the first eleven months of 2011 sales reached 19.6 million tonnes, shipments this year up to November reached 20.4 million tonnes. Iron ore is one of the main products in the Brazilian export basket to the region.
The situation of trade with the Arabs, in fact, reflects the reality lived by the sector in 2012, when prices fell. The retracted global demand, mainly due to China and the United States, caused prices of the commodity to drop this year. With the slow global economy, there is lower production of machinery, equipment and vehicles, and that also results in lower demand for steel, which is made from iron ore.
*Translated by Mark Ament
