China, the world’s largest iron ore consumer produced around 118.9 MnT ROM (Run-of-mine) in Sept’16. Crude iron ore production was around 115.1 MnT in Aug’16.
China’s crude iron ore production increased by 3.3% in Sept’16 M-o-M. Though iron ore import to China continued to increase and was recorded at 92.9 MnT in September, China’s crude iron ore production is also gearing pace.
On Y-o-Y basis, crude ore production was down by 9% as it was 131 MnT in Sept’15. The decrease of 9% in crude iron ore production indicates that Chinese steel mills are more relying on imported ore as it is available at much cheaper prices by Australia and Brazil as compared to China’s domestic cost of production.
The total volume of crude ore production in the first nine months of 2016 was registered at 943.7 MnT, significantly down by 6.3% Y-o-Y as it was 1.008 BnT in the same period prior this year.
The country imported 762.7 MnT iron ore in the first nine months of 2016, which was higher by 9.0% Y-o-Y. The country imported 699.3 MnT iron ore during the same period in 2015, which shows country’s increasing appetite for imported raw material.
Continuous increasing iron ore imports by China and overall decreasing crude iron ore production is likely to pressure global iron ore prices in the coming term.
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