In the January-May period this year, China imported 513.746 million mt of iron ore, up 7.0 percent year on year, as announced by the Chinese customs authorities.
In May alone, China imported 102.033 million mt of iron ore, up 0.2 percent month on month, while rising by 6.1 percent year on year.
In May, import iron ore prices decreased following the Labor Day holiday as downstream users were unwilling to build up stocks. Iron ore prices fell to their lowest level in May at $114/mt on May 15, while they moved up again amid improved demand and lower supply, to their highest level during the month at $122/mt on May 22. Subsequently, they edged down at the end of May amid the sharply increasing iron ore volumes arriving at ports and declining melted iron outputs.