Imports of Iron Ore Increased 37% January-February, to Grow in March

SHANGHAI, Mar 8 (SMM) – According to customs data, China imported a combined 194 million mt of iron ore in the first two months of 2023, up 7.3% year-on-year.

From the perspective of overseas supply, overseas mines increased their shipments in December 2022 in order to complete the annual plan, which arrived in January and February 2023. According to SMM data, arriving shipments from Australia dipped slightly due to the hurricane and the accident of BHP. Shipments from Brazil fell slightly due to the torrential rain, despite smaller impact from it compared to years before. Arriving shipments from India spiked. The overall arrivals grew slightly.

On the domestic demand front, with the impact of the pandemic subsiding and the absence of CNY holidays, manpower and logistics of steel mills returned to normal. When combined with policy stimulus and infrastructure construction industry turning around, steel mills have begun to resume production. This buoyed steel prices and profits at steel mills, accelerating production resumption at blast furnaces. Domestic iron ore supply thus tightened, and the demand for imported ore strengthened. The import volume of iron ore in January-February remained high and increased year-on-year.

As of March 7, SMM tracked that nine blast furnaces are expected to resume production in March. With the advancement of real estate and infrastructure construction, downstream demand will gradually pick up. Profit at steel mills is expected to recover. As such, the demand for ore will remain strong. Imports of iron ore will increase in March.