National iron panorama between 2010 and 2014
Mining is the activity carried out that aims to remove a mineral good from the earth’s crust, representing about 5% of Brazil’s GDP in 2014. Iron is an easily oxidisable, dubious and magnetic chemical element. It is the most common, cheap and most important of metals. Hematite (Fe2 O3) is the main mineral with predominant iron content in its composition. In 2010, Brazil’s iron production accounted for about 15% of world production. The steel industry accounts for 99% of the world’s iron consumption. The sea route is the main means of transport of goods between Brazil and foreign trade. The research was carried out by accessing the DNPM website, the data collected were from 2010 to 2014. In this period Australia had the largest mineral reserve of iron and China the largest production in the world. In 2013 there was a fall in Brazilian iron production and its effective consumption. The national economy and world trade were the main factors for the instability of the Brazilian mineral sector between 2010 and 2014. The decrease in the price of iron in the world market caused the drop in iron production in Brazil in 2013, when iron consumption in Brazil was severely affected by the economic crisis that affected the country. China’s high investments in the mineral sector have boosted the country’s participation in world trade, becoming the world’s leading iron producer, between 2010 and 2014 China was the main buyer of iron produced in Brazil.