SHANGHAI, Jul 26 (SMM) – Ports in top steelmaking hub of Tangshan saw considerably fewer iron ore delivered this week, as the local government deepened its production curbs and restricted heavy trucks from entering and leaving ports.
In the week ended July 26, daily average iron ore deliveries from 35 Chinese ports fell 116,000 mt from the prior week to stand at 2.5 million mt, with the figures for Jingtang and Caofeidian ports declining to about 150,000 mt, showed SMM data.
Daily average deliveries from major ports in Shandong also dipped this week, as volatile prices of futures dampened purchasing interest across steel mills.
Daily average deliveries from the 35 ports were 107,700 mt higher than a year ago.
SMM data also showed that iron ore stocks across those ports shrank 800,000 mt from a week ago and 33.16 million mt from a year ago, and stood at 106.3 million mt as of Friday July 26. Iron ore ports stocks last week increased for the first time in 15 weeks.
Iron ore deliveries from ports in Tangshan are expected to pick up next week as the transport ban will be lifted after July 28.
