Stocks of imported iron ore sintering fines at the 64 Chinese steel mills under Mysteel’s bi-weekly survey surged to a ten-month high as of December 25, as most mills surveyed were actively restocking in advance of the Chinese New Year holiday late next month.
Over the two weeks to December 25, inventories of imported fines at those 64 mills had been rising for eight straight weeks, adding another 2.05 million tonnes or a large 12.5% to reach 18.43 million tonnes. The survey found that stocks at mills across all regions increased because most mills had replenishment demand in preparation for the upcoming seven-day holiday that will begin January 24.
Steel mills in North China’s Tangshan, Hebei province, seemed less busy in restocking, however, as stocks of imported fines in the yards of the province’s ten surveyed mills dipped by 18,400 tonnes or a tiny 0.6% over the two weeks to reach 3.05 million tonnes.
However, average daily consumption of imported sintering fines at the 64 steelmakers decreased further to 531,700 tonnes/day as of December 25, down by another 47,600 t/day or 8.2% over the two weeks.
Since December 19, steel mills in East China’s Shandong province and North China’s Shanxi province have been forced to obey strict production curbs because of heavy air pollution. The sampled mills’ daily iron ore consumption in Shanxi dropped to 26,500 t/day, marking a huge 41.5% decline over the two weeks and making for the lowest level since the survey was launched in July 4, 2014.
Meanwhile, over the period, mills in Shandong also posted a decline in daily consumption, with the average dipping further by 44,200 t/d, a three-month low, according to the survey.
Over December 12-25, the ore the mills managed to accumulate should be enough to keep their works operating for around 32 days, five days more than during the previous survey of November 28-December 11.
This article has been published under article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.
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