* Cargo volumes rise to 321 mln tonnes in 9 months
* Iron ore and scrap metal up 112 pct, leading recovery
AMSTERDAM, Oct 22 (Reuters) - The port of Rotterdam, Europe's biggest, said on Friday it was seeing a continued but slowing recovery in cargo as it reported a 13.4 percent rise in volumes for the first nine months of the year.
Cargo volumes at Rotterdam, a major transit point for commodities and finished goods, rose to 321 million tonnes January-September from 283 million in the same period last year.
"Growth is levelling off, but it's still slightly better than expected. The port continues to profit from strong European exports, for which a lot of raw materials are transported," the port's chief executive, Hans Smits, said in a statement.
Rotterdam said almost every sort of cargo showed improved volumes on recovering international trade, led by iron ore and scrap metal with a rise of 112 percent.
It said steel plants are operating almost at full capacity due to high demand from the automotive and machinery industry, stretching capacity at Rotterdam's terminals.
Coal volumes rose 2 percent as imports for the steel industry remained at a high level, but demand from coal-fired power plants slowed in favour of a pick-up in gas.
Crude oil volume rose 3 percent despite low refinery margins, the port said, while growth in mineral oil volumes (petrol, diesel, kerosene and heating oil) slowed in the latest quarter but were still up 5 percent for the nine months versus a year ago.
Only volumes of agricultural bulk goods declined, by 7 percent, due to increased use of crops grown in Europe such as rapeseed instead of supplies from overseas, the port authority said. (Reporting by Aaron Gray-Block, editing by Jane Baird)