On March 14, inventory of iron ore at 33 major Chinese ports amounted to 146.4 million mt, down 1.11 percent compared to March 7, as announced by China's Xinhua News Agency.
During the given week, import iron ore prices moved down significantly amid the decreasing iron ore volume arriving at Chinese ports and increasing deliveries of iron ore to end-users.
Currently, steelmakers’ capacity utilization rates and outputs have decreased, exerting a negative impact on the demand for import iron ore. Meanwhile, the worsening of the Covid-19 pandemic in many regions of China will weaken the support for the iron ore market. However, following sharp declines in the stock market, China has issued a policy to bolster the market, causing iron ore prices to bottom up. It is thought that import iron ore prices may fluctuate within a limited range in the coming week.