China iron ore port inventories rose as demand weakened on production curbs

SHANGHAI, Jul 6 (SMM) – Inventories of seaborne iron ore at Chinese ports continued to trend higher last week, as demand waned slightly on the release of the new air quality control plan of  the top steelmaking hub—Tangshan, which is likely to be enforced strictly and cause more production losses.

SMM data showed that iron ore stocks across 35 Chinese ports increased 340,000 mt from June 24 to 100.66 million mt as of July 3, following a 980,000 mt rise in the previous week. The stocks were 5.14 million mt lower than a year ago.

During the same period, iron ore deliveries from the 35 ports averaged 2.86 million mt per day, down 68,000 mt from the previous week, according to SMM data.

Seaborne iron ore stocks at ports in east China’s Shandong inched up last week, which led to the underperformance of prices of mainstream brands against other regions, while deliveries from the ports rose as some mills bought on dips.

Inventories of seaborne iron ore at Chinese ports are expected to extend their increase as arrivals remain high recently and as production curbs in Tangshan and maintenance on more blast furnaces reduce demand.