NBS: China's ROM iron ore output drops 2.9% YoY in H1

China's run-of-mine (ROM) iron ore output over January-June saw an on-year decrease of 2.9% to reach 501.2 million tonnes, according to the latest data released by the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on July 21. Disruptions to mining companies' production and their shrinking margins had resulted in the decline, Mysteel Global noted.

For June alone, China produced a total of 98.7 million tonnes of ROM iron ore, up 9.2% on year but only by a tiny 0.92% on month, according to NBS. During the first few months of this year, miners in some regions, especially those in North China's Hebei, saw their production to