Iron ore shipments to China via Port Hedland stay stable in April

The volume of iron ore shipped to China in April from Port Hedland, the top iron ore terminal in Western Australia, totalled 41.1 million tonnes, down by a small 86,485 tonnes or 0.2% from March. Meanwhile, the tonnage was also 3.2% lower than that in the same month last year, new data released by the Pilbara Ports Authority (PPA) show.

In fact, Chinese steelmakers had firm demand for imported iron ore throughout last month, as they kept lifting the run rates of their blast furnaces (BFs) to capitalize on better margins when selling finished steel, Mysteel Global noted. The BF capacity utilization rate among the 247 Chinese steel mills under