On December 21, inventory of iron ore at 33 major Chinese ports amounted to 106.37 million mt, up 1.75 million mt or 1.67 percent compared to December 14, as announced by China's Xinhua News Agency.
During the given period, import iron ore prices in China have moved up sharply, while the iron ore shipments decreased amid the bad weather and berth maintenances in Australia. Meanwhile, blast furnace capacity utilization rates of Chinese steelmakers increased slightly. Currently, steelmakers’ profitability has shrunk due to the surging iron ore prices, which will negatively affect the demand for iron ore. It is thought that import iron ore prices will edge down in a short term.
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