Brazilian iron ore exports increased year-on-year in February. Raw material shipments abroad have still not been impacted by the country`s largest producer Vale's announcement to temporarily cut its iron ore and pellet output. This followed the rupture of Dam 1 at the Córrego do Feijão mine in Brumadinho on 25 January, Kallanish notes. 

According to Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (Mdic) data, February exports of iron ore rose 21.6% compared to the same period of 2018 to 28.9 million tonnes. Shipments however fell by -12.7% versus January.

Brazil exported almost 62.1mt in the first two months of 2019, up 14.5% on the corresponding period of last year.

February exports of iron ore had a fob value of $1.53 billion, up by 21.6% y-o-y. Cumulative value of shipments abroad also increased 15.9% y-o-y to $3.23 billion.

The main destination for Brazilian iron ore exports in in January-February was China, which took 52% of shipments. Malaysia and Japan were the next-largest importers, with shares of 7.3% and 5.6% respectively.