WEEKLY: China mills' imported iron ore stocks climb

Chinese steelmakers have consumed more iron ore recently, as they remained keen on producing steel during what was usually an off-season for steel consumption. The firm demand for the steelmaking material among mills thus led them to build up their in-plant iron ore stocks, Mysteel's latest survey showed.

Daily consumption of imported iron ore sintering fines at the 64 Chinese blast-furnace (BF) steelmakers under Mysteel's survey grew by 11,700 tonnes/day or 2% on week, averaging 606,200 t/d during November 21-27. The rise in sintering fines use among the surveyed mills also reflected their higher consumption of sintered ore compared with other feed