Pre-CNY purchases to buoy iron ore daily deliveries from ports into next week

SHANGHAI, Jan 11 (SMM) – Pre-holiday restocking at steel mills nudged up daily average deliveries departing Chinese ports this week, and this lowered iron ore port inventories. High demand ahead of CNY is likely to keep daily average deliveries from ports at highs through next week. 

Stocks across 35 major Chinese ports declined by 1.94 million mt from a week ago to stand at 129.3 million mt as of Friday January 11, SMM data showed. For the same period, average daily deliveries of iron ore departing those ports grew 87,000 mt, to stand at 2.53 million mt. 

In east and north China, average daily deliveries leaving major ports rebounded this week, and lowered port stocks there, SMM learned.