Inventories of imported iron ore
at China's 45 major ports eased to 129.1 million tonnes during October 14-20,
hitting a new low since July 8 after the on-week dip of 0.6%, according to
Mysteel's survey. The modest fall-off was mainly due to the large decline in
new arrivals, though it was partly offset by lower daily discharge volumes.
Mysteel's shipment tracking
showed that new ore arrivals at 45 ports slipped by 5.4 million tonnes or 20.4%
on week to 21.1 million tonnes over October 10-16.
On the other hand, the average
iron ore discharge volume from these ports retreated from a one-week gain to
about 3 million tonnes/day over October 14-20, down by 153,500 t/d or 4.9% on
week.
Some steelmakers in North China
slowed their pace of hauling iron ore from ports to plants, as they had started
scaling back output recently over shrinking steel margins and frequent bans
imposed on their steelmaking facilities to curb air pollution, Mysteel Global
noted.
Among the total, Australian iron
ore stocks at surveyed ports had slid for the second week by another 0.8% on
week to 57.7 million tonnes, the lowest level since January 2021, and Brazilian
ore also dipped by 112,300 tonnes on week to 46.3 million tonnes.
By product, stocks of both
pellets and concentrates posted declines over the survey period, with the
former falling 4.1% on week to 5.5 million tonnes after two weeks of rises, and
the latter reaching 9 million tonnes after the second on-week drop by 78,400
tonnes.
Lumps, however, increased to 19.6
million tonnes as of October 20, or having recovered by 89,700 tonnes after
thinning over the prior four weeks.
Of all stocks, 77.9 million
tonnes were held by traders by October 20, down 0.8% on week, though the
proportion of the total remained largely stable at 60.3%, according to the
survey.
Source: Steel mint