Posted on 30 Aug 2021
By August 26, total imported iron ore inventories at China’s 45 ports under Mysteel’s weekly survey increased to a new high since May 7, totaling 129.2 million tonnes or up for the second week over August 20-26 by 1.3 million tonnes or 1% on week, as vessel congestion had eased at ports in East and South China, offsetting the slightly higher iron ore discharge volume and lower arrival of new iron ore shipments at the surveyed ports.
Over August 20-26, the number of vessels queuing at the 45 sampled ports slipped by 3 on week to 182, still a rather high level, but it had improved from 199 vessels over August 6-12, or the longest queue since January 29, according to the survey.
“The easing mainly occurred at ports in East and South China where unloading operations have gradually returned to normal from the previous disruption by heavy rains,” a Shanghai-based analyst commented.
Over the same period, the average daily iron ore discharge volume at 45 Chinese ports rose to around 2.96 million tonnes/day, which inched up by 13,700 t/d or 0.5% on week from a one-week dip.
On the other hand, the 45 ports received about 23.4 million tonnes of iron ore deliveries over August 16-22, down for the second week by 2 million tonnes or 8% on week, Mysteel’s other shipment survey showed, which was partly due to the series of maintenance at ports in Australia and Brazil.
Iron ore dispatched from the two core supply countries may decrease but not much in the coming weeks, as over August 16-22, Port Hedland in Australia conducted scheduled maintenance for 24 hours, and Brazil’s Port da Madeira rolled out maintenance for 120 hours.
Among the total stocks, Brazilian iron ore at China’s 45 ports rose to its three-month high of 37.3 million tonnes as of August 26, or up for the fourth week by another 732,500 tonnes or 2% on week, and Australian ore grew for the third week by 1.3 million tonnes or 2.1% on week to 65.5 million tonnes.
By product, iron ore concentrates swelled to its eight-month high of 10.3 million tonnes, up for the second week by 343,600 tonnes or 3.5% on week. Lumps and pellets all rose for the third week, with the former up 281,000 tonnes or 1.4% on week to 19.8 million tonnes, and the latter gaining 76,900 tonnes or 1.9% on week to 4.2 million tonnes.
By August 26, iron ore port inventories belonging to the traders swelled to the highest since Mysteel commenced the survey on December 25 2015, reaching 73.4 million tonnes after gaining for the fourth week by 1.4 million tonnes or 1.9% on week. The proportion of the total stocks also grew for the fourth week by 0.5 percentage point to 56.8%.
Source:Mysteel Global
