Posted on 24 Aug 2021
China’s run-of-mine (ROM) iron ore output dipped 9% on month in July to 79.93 million tonnes or ebbing from a 3.5-year high in June, though the volume was still 4.9% higher on year, Mysteel Global noted from the latest data released by the country’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Over January-July, China produced 570.2 million tonnes of ROM iron ore, up on year but more slowly at 14.5% than the 15.9% on-year gain for the first half of 2021, according to the data.
Last month, ROM iron ore output from Shanxi of North China slumped the most among all the Chinese provinces, down 21% on month to 3.75 million tonnes, as many iron ore miners’ underground mining in Shanxi of North China, especially those in Daixian, remained shut as the thorough workplace safety inspections after a fatal accident at a local underground iron ore mine on June 10 were still ongoing.
Output in the other core production bases such as North China’s Hebei and Northeast China’s Liaoning declined on month too in July, with the former down 13% on month to 32.7 million tonnes and the latter down 4.8% on month to 11.7 million tonnes.
Less ROM iron ore output matched Mysteel’s survey on the domestic iron ore concentrates output from China’s 332 domestic miners, as their total output fell too by 3% on month to 22.5 million tonnes in July, or down 5.2% on year, and the concentrates output over January-July added up to 158.7 million tonnes, or up but at a lower pace of 3.8% on year against 5.5% for the first half.
Lower domestic iron ore output and Chinese steel mills’ preference to domestic supplies and port inventories than seaborne cargoes offset the downward pressure of the concern on less demand from the Chinese steel mills in general with Beijing’s determination on a lower steel output for 2021, Mysteel Global noted.
By July 30, Mysteel’s price assessment of the 66% Fe domestic iron ore concentrates in Tangshan of Hebei edged up by Yuan 43/dmt ($6.6/dmt) on month to Yuan 1,600/dmt EXW and including the 13% VAT, which was in a stark contrast to Mysteel SEADEX 62% Australian Fines that slumped $36.8/dmt on month to $180.2/dmt CFR Qingdao by July 30.
Source:Mysteel Global
