Pre-holiday stockpiling extends decline in iron ore port stocks

SHANGHAI, Sep 12 (SMM) – Inventories of iron ore across 35 Chinese ports fell this week for a second straight week, as steelmakers remained keen to stockpile raw materials ahead of holidays.

SMM data showed that stocks stood at 108.75 million mt as of Thursday September 12, down 1.55 million mt from Friday September 6 and 26.49 million mt from a year ago.

Daily iron ore deliveries from those ports averaged 2.9 million mt this week, up 27,000 mt from the prior week and marking the fourth consecutive week of gain. This was 273,700 mt higher than the same period a year ago.

As restocking enthusiasm among steelmakers continued, Jingtang and Caofeidian ports in Tangshan saw over 320,000 mt of iron ore delivered per day this week.

Daily iron ore deliveries from major ports in Shandong dipped this week, but most steelmakers in the region told SMM that they will begin to stockpile raw materials for the week-long National Day break after returning from this weekend’s Mid-Autumn Festival holiday.  

Daily iron ore deliveries from some ports along the Yangtze River edged higher this week, as some steel mills stepped up purchases.