As of November 17, inventory of iron ore at 33 major Chinese ports amounted to 105.09 million mt, up 460,000 mt or 0.44 percent compared to the inventory level recorded on November 10, as announced by China's Xinhua News Agency.
As of the same date, the Xinhua-China Iron Ore Price Index for imported iron ore with 62 percent iron content was at 76 points, remaining unchanged week on week. Meanwhile, the Xinhua-China Iron Ore Price Index for imported iron ore with 58 percent iron content was at 68 points on the date in question, also remaining stable week on week.
During the given week, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Beijing still affected steelmakers' production activities in northern China, with purchase volumes of iron ore in the region also seeing significant declines. Meanwhile, the cold winter weather has exerted a negative impact on demand for finished steel, thereby also resulting in limited demand for iron ore.
As for the coming week, steelmakers in Hebei Province will continue to increase their production activities gradually, which is good news for the iron ore market as they will replenish their ore inventories to a certain extent. However, the off-season with the arrival of the cold winter weather will affect demand for finished steel and so steelmakers will limit their production outputs, which will put pressure on iron ore prices. It is expected that iron ore prices in the Chinese market will fluctuate at low levels in the coming week, while they are expected to move down further in the longer term.