Brazilian miner Vale has seen its iron ore exports increase by 7.6 percent from January 2014 to November 2014, compared with the first 11 months of 2013. In November alone, Vales iron ore export volume reached 24.7 million mt, which represents an increase of 1.78 percent year on year and a fall of 3.66 per cent compared to October.
Vales November iron ore sales in the domestic market totaled 1.9 million mt, which is up 13.6 percent year on year but down by 15.2 per cent month on month. Between January and November of this year, Vales iron ore sales in its domestic market reached 21.24 million mt, rising 10 percent when compared with the same period of last year.
Iron ore is the worst performing major commodity of 2014. A key ingredient in steelmaking, iron ore has dropped almost 50 per cent this year to a five-year low as a glut of new supply, primarily from mines in Australia, hit the market. That has overwhelmed demand growth in China, the worlds biggest consumer.