Iron ore stocks at major 10 ports in China grew, with stocks of different types of ore still diverging

According to SMM data, with a surge in port arrivals, iron ore stocks across the ten major ports in China was up 2.37 million mt WoW at 111.53 million mt last week. Stocks by ore type and their WoW change: fines (83.65 million mt, +2.89 million mt); concentrates (10.12 million mt, -50,000 mt); pellets (5.18 million mt, +20,000 mt); lumps (12.58 million mt, -490,000 mt).

Losses hurt steel mills’ buying appetites, leading to heavy piling-up of fines inventory. Environmental protection pressure brought acceptable demand for clean raw materials such as lump.

Looking forward, according to current tracking of operating rates of BFs, daily average output of pig iron will still move up. However, ore stocks may build up again, owing to narrowing profits of steel mills and a spike in port arrivals. Given that the cost-effectiveness of different types of iron ore vary, stocks of the four major types may still diverge.