Mexico will probably export only 2 million tons of iron ore in 2014 thanks to a crackdown on shipments to China linked to drug cartels, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing Mexico’s Coordinator General of Minerals Mario Cantú. Last year Mexico exported about 10 million tons of the mineral, 9 million of which were bound for China. Cantú said the extent to which exports specifically to China will drop this year isn’t clear, but suggested it will likely correspond with the 80% drop in total Mexican iron-ore exports. The plummet is linked to Mexico’s moves to combat drug cartels operating in the country’s top ore-producing state of Michoacán, and their expansion into lucrative shipments of the mineral to China.
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