Iron Ore Inventories at 10 Major Domestic Ports Fell Further Last Week

SHANGHAI, Mar 20 (SMM) -The iron ore inventories across ten major ports in China dropped 0.1% from a week ago to 93.8 million mt last week. According to SMM data, 200 ships arrived at domestic ports from March 4 to March 10. During this period, shipments from Australia decreased from 15.77 million mt to 13.65 million mt, while those from Brazil rose from 2.56 million mt to 3.92 million mt. Overseas shipments rebounded slightly last week, and iron ore arrivals at major Chinese ports increased significantly. The arrivals increased across four major varieties.

Fines inventories at the ten ports climbed 7.5% to 7.78 million mt, and pellet inventories grew 1.8% to 6.18 million mt. The profits of steel mills fell last week, weakening the purchases of high-priced fines and pellet. Fine and lump inventory dipped 0.4% and 3.1% to 65.89 million mt and 13.95 million mt respectively. Last week, the operating rates and the utilisation rate of blast furnace both increased, growing the output of pig iron. There was still demand for iron ore. Moreover, the raw material inventory of steel mills continued to be low, which supported the enthusiasm of steel mills to take delivery from ports.