Iron ore shipments from Australia and Brazil stayed at low levels 

SHANGHAI, Mar 17 (SMM) – SMM estimates that there were 90 vessels carrying 12.01 million mt of iron ore arrived at major Chinese ports during March 8-14, up 400,000 mt from the week ended March 7 and up 1.6 million mt from the same period a year earlier. Arrivals in China’s steelmaking hub Tangshan increased on the week. 

During the same period, iron ore deliveries leaving Australian ports fell 1.37 million mt on the week to 15.76 million mt, but the proportion of shipments to China edged higher from the previous week.

Shipments that departed Brazilian ports were estimated to rise 560,000 mt on the week, to 3.51 million mt. This was 3.47 million mt, or close to 50%, lower than the same period last year.