Due to sintering production restrictions, fines saw quite evident inventory accumulation

The inventories of iron ore across the 10 major ports tracked by SMM increased by 170,000 mt WoW to 114.90 million mt. Stocks of different types are as follows: fines (86.94 million mt, +1.42 million mt), iron ore concentrates (10.91 million mt, -500,000 mt), lump (12.21 million mt, -530,000 mt), and pellet (4.84 million mt, -220,000 mt).

This week, inventories at 10 ports continued to accumulate, but the increase slowed down again. Port arrivals of fines stayed relatively high, leading to continued inventory accumulation. As iron ore concentrates and imported pellets still enjoyed a certain cost-performance advantage compared to domestic iron ores, steel mills increased procurement frequency, resulting in inventory reduction. Due to sintering production restrictions in some areas of Hebei, the lump demand increased, bringing in a slight drop in inventory.

Looking ahead to next week, SMM forecasts blast furnace pig iron output to show a downward trend. Iron ore demand from steel mills may weaken, leading to continued inventory accumulation at ports. Considering the difference in cost-performance ratio, four types of iron ore are expected to diverge.