China’s iron ore imports increased 14.6% in November compared to the previous month, reaching the highest level since July 2020, showed data from the General Administration of Customs on Tuesday (7), although a steel market slow has dampened demand for the raw material.
The world’s biggest consumer of iron ore brought in 104.96 million tonnes last month, up from October imports of 91.61 million, and also up 6.9% from November 2020, according to customs data.
The surge in imports, dominated by products from Australia and Brazil, surpassed market expectations amid lower iron ore prices and a drop in demand for steel.
“The November import data could be affected by the customs clearance factor,” said Tang Binghua, an analyst at Founder CIFCO Futures in Beijing, adding that iron ore shipments and arrivals have not changed significantly in recent months.
But high import levels are unlikely to continue, according to Tang, as consumption is weak after China tightened production controls at mills.
Stocks of imported iron ore at Chinese ports rose for 10 consecutive weeks, jumping last week to 155.5m tonnes, the highest since mid-2018, data from consultancy Mysteel showed.
In the first 11 months of the year, China imported 1.04 billion tonnes of iron ore, down 3.2% from the corresponding period last year, according to customs.
Tuesday’s data also showed China’s November exports of steel products at 4.36mt, down 3.1% month-on-month.
Reference: CNN Brasil
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