Posted on 28 Mar 2022
Total stocks of imported iron ore at China's 45 ports under Mysteel's survey remained largely steady at 155.2 million tonnes over March 18-24, or higher by a mere 206,300 tonnes on week, mainly due to the rise in ore carrier arrivals and lower daily discharge volumes at many ports.
Over March 14-20, Mysteel's shipment tracking shows that new iron ore arrivals at the 45 ports increased to 21.9 million tonnes, higher by 929,000 tonnes or 4.4% on week.
On the other hand, the average daily iron ore discharge rate from these 45 ports totaled 2.6 million tonnes/day over March 18-24, down by another 82,300 t/d or 3% on week.
The major declines were noted at ports in Tangshan in North China's Hebei where new COVID-19 cases are spreading. The fall occurred because the use of trucks to transport iron ore between the local ports to steel mills is being disrupted by neighborhood lockdowns imposed by the local government across much of the city, as reported.
Meanwhile, port congestion worsened due to the resurgence of COVID, as 127 iron ore vessels were still queuing at the 45 ports awaiting unloading, or six more than the previous week, according to Mysteel's tracking.
Among the inventories total, the stocks of Australia-origin iron ore at the 45 ports decreased by 284,400 tonnes on week to 74.4 million tonnes as of March 24, while those of Brazilian ore grew to 51.5 million tonnes, up by 467,300 tonnes.
By product, stocks of lumps and concentrates dropped over the survey period, with the former hitting the lowest level since last August, falling for the seventh week by another 570,900 tonnes or 2.9% on week to reach 19.3 million tonnes, while those of the latter were down by 14,800 tonnes on week at 10.8 million tonnes. Conversely, pellet stocks climbed by 50,500 tonnes on week to reach an 11-month high of 5 million tonnes.
By ownership, the tonnage belonging to Chinese traders increased by 244,000 tonnes on week to 89.6 million tonnes as of March 24, though their share of the total remained stable at 57.7%.
Source:Mysteel Global
