Mexico’s War on Drugs Weighing on Iron-Ore Trade with China

Mexico’s exports of iron ore have dropped as authorities crackdown on iron ore shipments to China which have links to drug cartels.

According to The Wall Street Journal:

Mexico will likely export just 2 million metric tons of iron ore this year, said Mario Cantú, Mexico’s coordinator general of minerals, on the sidelines of an industry conference in the northeastern Chinese city of Tianjin. Last year’s exports totaled 10 million tons, 9 million of which were bound for China.

It isn’t clear how much exports specifically to China will drop this year, but it will likely correspond with the 80% drop in total Mexican iron-ore exports, Mr. Cantú said.

Mario Cantú, the coordinator general of minerals, said:

We realized some of the minerals have been exploited without permits. That led us to change the rules.

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