Posted on 14 Jul 2023
China imported a total of 576.1 million tonnes of iron ore during the first half of this year, representing an on-year increment of 7.7%, the latest statistics released by the country's General Administration of Customs (GACC) published on July 13 showed.
In June alone, China's iron ore imports thinned by a small 0.7% on month to 95.5 million tonnes, yet were still 7.4% higher than in June 2022, according to historical Customs data.
Iron ore demand among Chinese steelmakers was quite firm in H1, as they actively ramped up steel production during the half when positive margins on steel sales finally returned after months of losses, as Mysteel Global reported.
Although most steel mills have stuck to the policy of keeping their in-house iron ore stocks at low levels to avoid tying up cash flow, they still needed to procure certain quantities to feed their blast furnaces (BFs) when run rates were high.
Mysteel's weekly tracking of 247 Chinese steelmakers nationwide showed that their average BF capacity utilization had climbed to 91.98% as of June 29, rising by 10.05 percentage points from that on January 5.
Meanwhile, iron ore production and shipments among the world's top four iron ore miners were relatively steady during the first half compared with January-June last year, Mysteel Global notes.
Iron ore shipments dispatched to global destinations from the 19 ports and 16 mining companies in Australia and Brazil under Mysteel's survey increased to 631.2 million tonnes in H1, up by 3% on year.
Thanks to steelmakers' solid demand for iron ore, portside stocks of ore still declined during the six months, even though carrier arrivals at China's ports increased, as reported.
By June 29, iron ore stocks at the 45 Chinese major ports tracked by Mysteel totalled 127.4 million tonnes, 3% lower than the total on January 5.
Indeed, the healthy stock level of iron ore at Chinese ports and mills' plants played a vital role in supporting imported iron ore prices during the first half.
Source:Mysteel Global
