WEEKLY: Chinese mills draw down on imported iron ore stocks during holiday

Chinese steelmakers saw their imported iron ore stocks drop steeply during the just past Chinese New Year holiday (February 15-23), as their uninterrupted operations during the holiday entailed steady consumption of the raw material while they were unable to replenish with traders and logistics firms generally closed.

By February 25, inventories of imported iron ore sintering fines held by the 64 Chinese blast-furnace steel producers under Mysteel's tracking slumped to 13.7 million tonnes, falling by a marked 4.7 million tonnes or 25.5% from the pre-holiday level. These steel mills had built up their imported sintering fines