[SMM survey] Safety & environmental protection inspections continue to impact, iron ore concentrates production remains low

According to the latest data from SMM, the capacity utilisation rate of domestic mines was 55.3% last week, up 0.8 percentage points from the previous week. The production of iron ore concentrates was 738,000 mt, increasing by 10,000 mt WoW. The inventory of iron ore concentrates at mines increased by 5,000 mt, with the total inventory now at 380,000 mt.

The production of iron ore concentrates remained largely stable last week. Firstly, the impact of environmental protection inspections by the national supervision team continued. According to SMM, the beneficiation production at some mines in Inner Mongolia and Shanxi was still hindered. Specifically, the maintenance of open-pit mines in the Inner Mongolia region may continue until mid-month, while the impact in the Shanxi region is mainly concentrated in Lan County, Xinzhou. However, the beneficiation production at mines in some regions increased, mainly in Liaoning. Previously affected by safety inspections, individual mines halted production for maintenance but are now gradually resuming normal operations. Looking ahead to this week, if the impact of supervision and inspections diminishes, it is expected that the beneficiation production at mines undergoing maintenance will gradually return to normal, and the production of iron ore concentrates may increase.