On November 29, inventory of iron ore at 33 major Chinese ports amounted to 142.73 million mt, up 0.66 percent compared to November 22, as announced by China's Xinhua News Agency.
During the given week, import iron ore prices continued their rising trend supported by rises in futures prices and some steel price gains, while increasing volumes of iron ore were arriving in the market. The production capacity utilization rates and steel outputs in China declined slightly, which will slacken the demand for import iron ore in the near future. However, iron ore prices are already near the exploitation costs of overseas miners, signaling that prices will have a certain degree of support. It is expected that import iron ore prices may fluctuate within a limited range in the coming week.