Iron ore arrivals at Chinese ports fall for 2 weeks

SHANGHAI, Aug 14 (SMM) – Arrivals of seaborne iron ore at Chinese ports shrank for a second straight week last week, and are likely to pick up later this month, as more shipments have departed from Australia and Brazil in recent weeks.

SMM estimates that 68 vessels carrying 9.43 million mt of iron ore arrived at major Chinese ports during August 4-10, down 2.67 million mt from the week ended August 3. Arrivals shrank 2.31 million mt in the previous week.

Last week, iron ore deliveries leaving Australian ports grew 610,000 mt from the prior week to 15.18 million mt. Shipments that left Brazilian ports expanded 180,000 mt to 7.42 million mt.