China, the world’s biggest buyer of iron ore, cut purchases by 4 percent in June from the previous month as India’s wet season curbed shipments and as Chinese mills sought supplies from domestic mines.
Imports were 51.09 million metric tons last month compared with 53.3 million tons in May, according to China’s General Administration of Customs. That’s 8 percent higher than 47.2 million tons a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
India, the third-biggest iron-ore exporter after Australia and Brazil, usually experiences heavy rain from June to September that disrupts infrastructure and deliveries to ports. China’s domestic iron ore output rose to a record in May as smaller steelmakers sought supplies from local mines to cut costs, said Xu Guangjian, a Beijing-based analyst with researcher Custeel.com.
“India’s monsoon season is affecting China’s iron ore purchases starting from June,” Xu said, “Steelmakers are also trying to keep raw-material inventories at low levels to avoid price volatility.”
China’s domestic iron-ore production climbed by 13 percent to a record 102.5 million tons in May from a year ago, according to Bloomberg data which uses figures provided by the National Bureau of Statistics. Crude-steel output from the nation, the world’s biggest producer, also rose to a record 60.25 million tons in May, according to bureau.
The cash price of 62 percent-iron ore arriving at China’s Tianjin port has fallen 11 percent to $171.2 a ton as of July 8 from a record $191.9 in February, according to the Steel Index.
Imports gained 8.1 percent to 334 million metric tons in the first six months from a year earlier, the General Customs office said today.
Steel-product exports dropped 10 percent to 4.3 million tons last month from 4.76 million tons in May, according to the data. The shipments were up 3 percent from a year earlier to 24.3 million tons in the first six months, customs said.