WEEKLY: China mills' import iron ore stocks increase further

Chinese steelmakers have built up their imported sintering fines stocks higher in recent weeks, as removal of earlier production curbs in North China allowed local mills to gradually recover normal operations at their blast furnaces (BFs) and sintering machines, leading to higher demand for the raw material, Mysteel's latest survey showed.

By March 25, inventories of imported iron ore sintering fines held by the 64 BF steelmakers tracked by Mysteel increased by another 3.1% or 406,800 tonnes on week to reach 13.5 million tonnes. Meanwhile, combined daily consumption of imported sintering fines among these steel producers also rose to an average