WEEKLY: China iron ore port stocks fall to 153.1 mln t

Inventories of imported iron ore at China's 45 major ports under Mysteel's survey decreased to a two-month low of 153.1 million tonnes over January 21-27, down by 1.3 million tonnes on week, mainly because the fall in new ore arrivals outpaced the decline in daily discharge volume at these ports.

The same 45 ports received around 22 million tonnes of iron ore deliveries over January 17-23, decreasing by 3 million tonnes or 12.1% on week, according to Mysteel's other shipments survey.

Over January 21-27, the total volume of iron ore discharged daily from the 45 ports slipped to 3.2 million tonnes/day, having retreated by 35,290 t/d or 1.1% on week, Mysteel's data showed. The discharge rate was still 244,400 t/d higher on year, however.

Daily discharge activity remained relatively high because iron ore demand among domestic steelmakers was good ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday (over January 31-February 6), according to a Shanghai-based analyst, though some mills became less interested in hauling ore from ports last week after they had completed restocking.

Among the total, the stocks of Australian iron ore at China's 45 ports as of January 27 reached a three-month low of 70.5 million tonnes after the on-week dip of 1.7 million tonnes or 2.3%. The stocks of Brazilian ore thinned by 1 million tonnes or 2% on week to 53.5 million tonnes, Mysteel's data shows.

By product, port stocks of lumps continued to decline during January 21-27, falling by another 940,100 tonnes or 4.4% on week to 20.5 million tonnes to hit their lowest level since September 24 last year. "Lump demand among mills in Tangshan (in North China's Hebei) stayed robust when local supplies of sintered ore tightened due to the frequent and harsh curbs on sintering machines among steelmakers since October," she said.

Stocks of concentrates and pellets thinned for the second week during January 21-27, with the former dipping 213,200 tonnes or 2% on week to 10.5 million tonnes, and the latter by 88,800 tonnes or 2.1% on week to 4.1 million tonnes.

By ownership, the tonnage held by Chinese traders eased by 1.2 million tonnes or 1.3% on week to 88.9 million tonnes, accounting for 58.1% of the total, or 0.3 percentage point lower on week.

Written by Lea Li, liye@mysteel.com

Edited by Zhenqi Yang, yangzhenqi@mysteel.com