Flash: Iron ore port inventory up as CNY restocking ends

According to Hebei Daily, recently, Shanghai University and Changli County Dongwen Precise Machine Parts Co., Ltd. jointly completed the first development test of hydrogen-enriched smelting technology of blast furnace with pure hydrogen as blowing gas source in China.

Currently, the iron ore prices have been rising rapidly in contrary to the background that the supply and demand in the iron ore market has been stable and the port inventory has also been at a high level.

According to data tracked by SMM, 74 ships arrived at domestic main ports in February 14-20. Arrivals of cargoes are estimated to stand at 11.23 million mt, down 1.24 million mt from the previous session and down 1.06 million mt year on year.

The nickel ore inventory at Chinese ports dipped 400,000 wmt on week to 7.88 million wmt as of February 18. Total Ni content stood at 61,800 mt. The total inventory at seven major ports stood at around 3.76 million mt in Ni content, 400,000 mt in Ni contentlower than Friday February 11.

On February 18, the National Development and Reform Commission and other 11 central departments jointly issued a notice on a series of policies to promote stable growth of industrial economy.

The profits at steel mills increased, boosting the demand for iron ore. Besides, real estate credit policy may marginally loosen, boosting market sentiment and pushing up steel prices. Iron ore futures have risen for several days.  China's central bank, the People's Bank of China, will cut the reserve requirement ratio by 0.5 percentage point. Government also released the signal of “stabilising the real estate industry”. Iron ore prices surged 8.66% yesterday supported by multiple factors.

As of December 3, the iron ore inventories across the 35 Chinese ports tracked by SMM totalled 150.41 million mt, an increase of 1.66 million mt from the previous week and 29.35 million mt year-on-year. The daily average shipments from the 35 ports dropped 43,000 mt on a weekly basis to 2.68 million mt last week.

Iron ore prices have continued to decline recently. Iron ore futures touched limit down in the morning market. The most-traded 2201 contracts created a record low of 565.5 yuan/mt, weakening the ferrous metals prices.

Iron ore inventory at 35 Chinese ports amounted to 149.32 million mt as of Friday March 23, up 1.32 million mt from a week ago, SMM data showed.

Iron ore inventory at 35 Chinese ports amounted to 146.47 million mt as of Friday February 23, SMM data showed.