WEEKLY: China's import iron ore prices climb after holiday

China's prices of imported iron ore strengthened over February 5-8, the first week after the eight-day Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday, as restocking demand for the feed material recovered in tandem with more integrated steel mills restarting their steel shops after regular overhauls.

Since late January, many Chinese mills have reignited blast furnaces (BFs) they had idled for annual maintenance, a pattern that is fuelling steady increases in their hot metal output. For instance, Mysteel's monitoring of the 247 Chinese steelmakers operating BFs under its coverage showed that their hot metal output averaged