On December 28, inventory of iron ore at 33 major Chinese ports amounted to 106.73 million mt, up 0.36 million mt or 0.34 percent compared to December 21, as announced by China's Xinhua News Agency.
During the given period, import iron ore prices in China moved down significantly, while iron ore shipments increased. Meanwhile, blast furnace capacity utilization rates of Chinese steelmakers increased slightly. The big downward corrections in iron ore prices were mainly due to the declines in iron ore futures prices. Since more sporadic Covid-19 cases have emerged in China, import iron ore prices will likely edge down in the coming week.