In April of the current year, China’s iron ore production amounted to 74.379 million mt, increasing by 11.2 percent year on year, 2.1 percentage points higher than the increase rate recorded in March this year, as announced by China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
In April, import iron ore prices in China increased until they reached their highest level in the given month of $85.7/mt on April 14 amid good demand from steelmakers as downstream users resumed production and construction. Iron ore prices moved up further in early and mid-May due to rising steel prices and ferrous metal futures prices.
In the first four months of the year, China produced 262.739 million mt of iron ore, increasing by 3.0 percent year on year, shifting from a year-on-year decline of 0.1 percent recorded in the first quarter of the year.
As previously reported by SteelOrbis, China imported 360 million mt of iron ore in the January-April period of the year, up 5.4 percent year on year.