Port Inventory of Iron Ore to Grow Slowly in Mar on Low Supply

SHANGHAI, Mar 8 (SMM) - The iron ore inventories across 35 ports in China tracked by SMM totalled 138.11 million mt as of February 24, up 4.47 million mt MoM, but down 15.13 million mt YoY. The monthly average shipments of imported iron ore flowing out of the ports added 674,000 mt to 3.07 million mt in February owing to the recovery of terminal demand. Demand from the terminal sectors continued to improve, slightly pushing up the profit margins of steel mills. In addition, the amount of iron ore arriving at the port increased month-on-month, and the unloading efficiency at ports also grew. On the demand side, pig iron output increased slowly. SMM believes that the growth of pig iron output in the near future will be limited by the higher year-on-year growth of pig iron output in February. The Two Sessions in March may affect the iron ore trading to some extent. However, the tight supply is expected to result in a slowdown in the accumulation of inventory at 35 Chinese ports.