Australia remains a key exporter of iron ore to China.

Tensions aside, China remains Australia's biggest market for iron ore, accounting for almost 80 percent of its exports in 2021. In a recent weekly report, shipbroker Banchero Costa noted that "2021 was still a reasonably positive year for global iron ore trade, despite China's cooling demand, with the rest of the world stepping in with iron ore imports to fill in the gap. Total global loadings in the 12 months of 2021 were up +0.6 percent y-o-y to 1554.1 million tonnes, according to vessels tracking data from Refinitiv. Mainland China...