Jan 8– SMM estimates that there were 91 vessels carrying 13.88 million mt of iron ore arrived at major Chinese ports during December 29-January 4, up 2.19 million mt from the week ended December 28.

This marked a rebound after two consecutive weeks of decline. Ports in China's top steelmaking city Tangshan saw arrivals slightly higher on the week while major ports in Shandong reported a significant increase in the arrivals.

Meanwhile, iron ore deliveries leaving Australian ports continued to fall, by 260,000 mt from the prior week to 13.39 million mt. Shipments that departed Brazilian ports were also estimated to shrink, by 100,000 mt on the week, to 5.28 million mt.