WEEKLY: China mines' iron ore output, stocks both retreat

After rising for three weeks straight, production of iron ore concentrates by Chinese mining companies pulled back during the past week due to increased maintenance stoppages among the mines, Mysteel's latest survey showed.

During January 23-29, the combined output of iron ore concs among the 186 mining and concentrating enterprises under Mysteel's tracking dipped 800 tonnes/day or 0.2% from the previous week to average 468,700 t/d, while their capacity utilization rate also inched lower by 0.1 percentage point on week to 60%. A