OREANDA-NEWS. February 16, 2012. Traders in China said they would cut iron ore purchases from Iran from March, which are worth over USD 2 billion a year, because they are worried that Western sanctions will disrupt the shipments of this material out of Iran.

Last year China imported 17 million tons of iron ore from Iran, accounting for 2.4 percent of the country total ore imports.

To plug the gap left by Iranian suppliers, Chinese buyers would have to either turn to alternative suppliers from Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa or increase purchasing volumes from Brazil and Australia. Some Chinese dealers said they would keep buying the ore from Iran as long as they were able to get paid because it was cheaper than other sources.