Iron ore arrivals at Chinese ports last week significantly higher from a year ago

SHANGHAI, Jun 30 (SMM) – A total of 104 vessels carrying 16.19 million mt of iron ore arrived at major Chinese ports during June 21-27, SMM estimates. This was down 370,000 mt from the prior week but up 3.87 million mt from the previous year. 

The amount of arrivals in China’s top steelmaking city of Tangshan increased close to 1.4 million mt on the week and shipments arrived in Shandong held roughly unchanged from a week ago. 

For the same week, iron ore deliveries leaving Australian ports climbed 60,000 mt on the week to 18.42 million mt. This was some 2.49 million mt higher than the same period last year as Australia ramped up its iron ore shipments. 

Shipments that departed Brazilian ports were estimated to expand 2.22 million mt from the prior week to 7.87 million mt, about 540,000 mt higher than the level of the same period last year. 

High deliveries from Australia and Brazil, together with the continued cargo unloading at Chinese ports, will likely see iron ore port inventories in China further piling up in July.