WEEKLY: China mills' imported iron ore stocks dip

Inventories of imported iron ore among Chinese integrated steelmakers slipped slightly in the past week, as rising costs of this key steelmaking raw material capped mills' buying interest despite their steady operations at blast furnaces (BFs), Mysteel's latest survey showed.

Total stocks of imported iron ore sintering fines held by the 64 Chinese BF steel mills under Mysteel's tracking fell by 13,800 tonnes or 0.1% on week to 13.53 million tonnes by August 19. The iron ore demand among domestic steelmakers has been firm lately as they are slowly ramping