Iron Ore Stocks Pile up at Ports

BEIJING, Mar. 14 (Agencies) -- Inventories of imported iron ore at 25 major Chinese ports climbed to 98.58 million tons in the week ending Monday, up 420,000 tons from a week earlier, according to the Xinhua-China Iron ore Price Index released Tuesday.

The price index for 63.5-percent iron ore imports remained unchanged from the previous week at 147 points, and the price index for 58-percent declined 1 point week-on-week to 124 points.

As Chinese steel producers have been suffering losses since the fourth quarter of last year, many have reduced production, resulting in the low trading volumes and increased inventories at various ports, Xinhua analysts said.