According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in the January-May period of the current year, China’s iron ore production amounted to 405.782 million mt, increasing by 17.5 percent year on year, 1.1 percentage points slower than the increase recorded in the first four months this year.
In May alone, iron ore production reached 87.612 million mt, up 14.4 percent year on year, while it increased by 0.83 percent month on month.
Import iron ore prices moved up in the first part of May, hitting a peak level for the month at $235/mt CFR on May 12, while falling to their lowest level in the month at $178/mt CFR on May 26 due to the decreasing trend seen in ferrous metal futures prices and the declining trend in steel prices.
As previously reported by SteelOrbis, iron ore imports in China increased by 6.0 percent year on year, reaching 471.765 million mt in the January-May period of the year, while in May alone China imported 89.79 million mt of iron ore, up 3.2 percent year on year.