Iron ore arrivals at Chinese ports rose 300,000 mt on week

SHANGHAI, May 25 (SMM) – A total of 83 vessels carrying 12.48 million mt of iron ore arrived at major Chinese ports during May 16-22, SMM estimates. This was up 300,000 mt from the previous week but down 890,000 mt from the same period last year.

For the same week, iron ore deliveries leaving Australian ports expanded 1.74 million mt on a weekly basis to 17.3 million mt, largely unchanged compared with the same period last year.

Shipments that departed Brazilian ports were estimated to rise 1.36 million mt week on week to 7.03 million mt. This was 1.51 million mt higher than the same period last year.

Iron ore port stocks are likely to build up in the near future as plunged steel prices narrowed profits of steel makers and dampened their enthusiasm for purchasing iron ore.