SHANGHAI, Mar 29 (SMM) – Iron ore stocks across 35 Chinese ports shrank 1.07 million mt from a week ago to 135.75 million mt as of Friday March 29, as arrivals across major ports in the east fell, SMM data showed.
For the same week, daily average iron ore deliveries from ports decreased by 179,000 mt from the prior week to 2.48 million mt.
Most steel mills in Tangshan extended winter cuts to the end of March. This, together with stricter curbs on sintering capacity from Monday to Thursday lowered daily iron ore deliveries from Jingtang port by nearly 100,000 mt this week.
Handan lifted its smog alert on March 26, and some steel mills in Wuan and central China resumed production, and this drove mills to purchase.
Daily deliveries from ports are likely to pick up next week as demand grows from production recovery across steel mills after the heating season.
