SHANGHAI, Jun 12 (SMM) – Inventories of seaborne iron ore at Chinese ports fell this week, as demand beyond Tangshan improved slightly and as arrivals have yet to enter warehouses.
SMM data showed that iron ore stocks across 35 Chinese ports decreased 790,000 mt in the week ended June 12 to 98.8 million mt, following a moderate increase of 210,000 mt in the previous week.
The stocks fell for eight weeks in the past nine, and were 10.74 million mt lower than a year ago.
This week, daily average iron ore deliveries from the 35 ports decreased 179,000 mt or 6.3% from the prior week to 2.66 million mt, as deliveries from ports in the top steelmaking hub of Tangshan almost halved due to prolonged production curbs on mills and restrictions on trucks aimed at improving air quality.
Deliveries from other ports in north China, those in east China and along the Yangtze River continued to edge higher this week, pointing to continued robustness in demand.
A separate SMM report showed that arrivals of seaborne iron ore at Chinese ports increased for a second straight week in the week ended June 6, which failed to lift port inventories as the movement of cargoes to warehouses progressed slowly amid port congestion.
