Iron ore inventory at 10 major ports slightly accumulated, four major types of iron ore continued to diverge

This week, iron ore inventory across the major ports tracked by SMM decreased by 90,000 mt WoW. Stocks of different types are as follows: fines (87.63 million mt, +230,000 mt), iron ore concentrates (10.09 million mt, -170,000 mt), lump (12 million mt, +110,000 mt), and pellet (4.55 million mt, -80,000 mt).

By type, iron ore concentrate and pellet inventory fell. Recently, due to tight resources, the prices of domestic iron ore concentrates and pellets have been relatively high, making them less cost-effective compared to imported iron ore concentrates and pellets. This brought increased demand for imported iron ore concentrates and pellets, resulting in a slight inventory decline this week. As the price of lump remained high and the profits of steel mills were under pressure, the demand for lump was weak, leading to inventory accumulation. Fines inventory continued to accumulate due to high port arrivals and the strategy of steel mills to restock as needed.

Looking ahead to next week, according to SMM, blast furnace pig iron output is expected to continue to decline, weakening the demand for iron ore concentrates. Therefore, port clearance volume may continue to decrease. In addition, port arrivals are expected to remain high. As a result, port inventories may accumulate again. Given the difference in cost-performance ratio, four types of iron ore are expected to diverge in stocks.