Iron ore port inventories in China likely to shrink

SHANGHAI, May 23 (SMM) – With fewer deliveries arriving at Chinese ports and smaller shipments from Australia, overall iron ore port inventories in China are likely to decline.

Some 68 vessels with 9.91 million mt of iron ore are expected to arrive at major Chinese ports during May 18-24, down 1.09 million mt from 11 million mt during May 11-17.

Volumes of iron ore departing Australian ports are likely to dip 660,000 mt to 15.35 million mt during May 18-24, SMM learned. This down was from 16.01 million mt during May 11-17 and marked the first decline after five consecutive weeks of growth.

In the same period, iron ore shipments leaving Brazilian ports are likely to fall 410,000 mt to 8.27 million mt. Volumes departing Brazilian ports remained at about 7-8 million mt every week after routine port maintenance ended in early April.  

Iron ore inventories across 35 major Chinese ports stood at 144.8 million mt as of Friday May 18.

For editorial queries, please contact Daisy Tseng at daisy@smm.cn 
For more information on how to access our research reports, please email service.en@smm.cn