WEEKLY: China's iron ore port stocks retreat

After rising for five straight weeks, inventories of imported iron ore piled at China's 47 major ports under Mysteel's tracking slipped to 172.8 million tonnes as of October 22, lower by 0.5% compared with a week earlier. The total was still significantly higher by 13.1% compared with the year-ago level.

Although new ore arrivals increased last week, many vessels were stuck in queue for unloading instead of moving cargo, partially contributing to the decrease in the stocks at ports, Mysteel Global noted. According to Mysteel's survey, the volume of iron ore cargoes arriving at the 47 sampled ports during October