SHANGHAI, Sep 20 (SMM) – Inventories of iron ore across 35 Chinese ports rose this week after falling for two weeks in a row, bolstered by greater arrivals.

SMM data showed that stocks stood at 111.93 million mt as of Friday September 20, up 3.18 million mt from September 12 but down 23.54 million mt from a year ago.

Daily iron ore deliveries from those ports averaged 2.83 million mt in the week ending September 20. This was down 67,000 mt from the week ending September 12 after four consecutive weeks of gains, and 254,300 mt higher than the same period a year ago.

As the week-long National Day holiday approaches, steelmakers in top steelmaking hub of Tangshan stepped up raw material procurement this week, with daily iron ore deliveries from Jingtang port climbing above 350,000 mt and those from Caofeidian port rebounding above 300,000 mt.

Ports in Shandong, however, saw daily iron ore deliveries inching up this week, as steelmakers in the region had yet to ramp up stockpiling.

Iron ore deliveries from Chinese ports are expected to remain high next week, the last week before the public holiday.