Mysteel Global: China produced a total of 158.4 million tonnes (mnt) of run-of-mine (ROM) iron ore during January-February, lower by 12.6% from the corresponding period in 2024, according to data newly released by the country’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). It was the first decline observed in ore production during the first two months of a year since 2020, the data show.
NBS consolidates its data for January and February due to the disruption in regular data collection and releases caused by the Chinese New Year holiday, which typically falls in either of these months, Mysteel Global notes.
The on-year decline was mainly attributed to the significant drops recorded in North China’s Hebei province, China’s top iron ore production hub, where the ROM production during January-February slumped by 22.5% on year to 74.1 mnt, the NBS data revealed.
“The cold weather made it difficult for many miners to maintain normal operations, so they basically halted their production and scheduled a resumption of operations in March,” a source from Hebei said.
In contrast, other major iron ore production bases all posted better performances over the past two months. Ore production in Northeast China’s Liaoning rose by 8.6% from the first two months of 2024 to 28.2 mnt, and that in Southeast China’s Sichuan grew by 11.5% on year to 16.9 mnt.
Mysteel’s survey of iron ore concentrates output among the 332 domestic mining companies it regularly monitors nationwide also displayed a general decline in production, with the total in January-February dropping by 1.5 mnt or 3.6% on year to reach 40.7 mnt.
Meanwhile, domestic iron ore prices have stayed low during the past two months, with the offering price of 66% Fe grade domestic iron ore concentrates in Tangshan in Hebei hovering around Yuan 960/dmt ($132/dmt) EXW and including the 13% VAT over January-February. On February 28, the price was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 964/dmt, only slightly higher than the Yuan 963/dmt at the beginning of the year.
Note: This article has been written in accordance with a content exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and BigMint.
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