WEEKLY: China's iron ore port stocks see marked drops

Inventories of imported iron ore stockpiled at China's 47 major ports under Mysteel's regular tracking declined by 2.28 million tonnes or 1.3% on week to 174.65 million tonnes as of April 16, nearing a three-month low, according to the latest survey results. Nonetheless, the portside stocks remained 20% higher than the year-ago level.

The clear decrease mainly reflected rising outflow and falling inflow of the steelmaking feed at Chinese ports lately, Mysteel Global notes. During April 9-15, the daily outflows from the 47 sampled ports increased by 64,800 tonnes/day or 2% to 3.36 million t/d on average. In contrast, the volume of iron