Iron ore inventories at the 33 major Chinese seaports monitored by Xinhua increased 1.92 percent week on week to 93.63 million metric tons (tonnes) as of January 18, according to the Xinhua-China Iron Ore Price Index (Xinhua-China IOP Index) released on Tuesday.
The index, compiled through research and analysis of 33 selected major seaports, shows that the price index for iron ore imports of 62 percent purity grade fell 1 point from a week before to 40 by January 18, and the index for iron ore imports of 58 percent purity grade went down 1 point week on week to 36. During the period from January 12 to January 18, prices of imported iron ore still showed a downtrend.
According to the Customs, China imported 96.27 million tonnes of iron ore in December 2015, up 17.22 percent month on month and also up 10.85 percent year on year, hitting a record high in single month imports. The increasing supplies have weighed on the ore prices, said analysts.
Meanwhile, during the period, due to the approach of the Spring Festival holiday, some traders purchased steel products, boosting the steel prices. However, the purchases remained small in scale and the market participants were still cautious. At present, due to the production suspension, prices of finished steel products increased amid the stabilization, leading support to the iron ore market in the short term, said analysts.
Developed by Xinhua News Agency, the Xinhua-China Iron Ore Price Index (Xinhua-China IOP Index) is released every Tuesday.
The index closely tracks changes of the country's iron ore market on the basis of in-depth surveys of China's major sea ports, iron ore traders and steel makers, as well as analysis of Customs statistics, and serves as a reference indicator that is able to reflect changes in iron ore stocks in China.
The original data were collected via the global data and information collection network of Xinhua and put together with comments from industry experts in the iron and steel production, wholesale and retail sectors.
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