On December 7, inventory of iron ore at 33 major Chinese ports amounted to 106.87 million mt, down 0.94 million mt or 0.87 percent compared to December 2, as announced by China's Xinhua News Agency.
During the given period, import iron ore prices in China indicated a sharply rising trend, while iron ore shipments increased amid fewer berth maintenance works in Australia and Brazil, but overall volumes of iron ore supplies arriving at Chinese ports decreased. Meanwhile, blast furnace capacity utilization rates of Chinese steelmakers and steel outputs edged down slightly compared to the previous week. However, steelmakers have still been willing to maintain production volumes as they have had good profit margins, which will boost demand for iron ore. Brazilian iron ore giant Vale has issued production targets for 2020 and 2021, forecasting its supply will be lower than expectations in the market, and this has also supported iron ore prices. At the same time, market players expect that the global economy will recover in 2021, which will push up commodity prices further.