Jan 10 – Inventories of seaborne iron ore across Chinese ports continued to trend lower this week, as steelmakers stockpiled in the run-up to the Lunar New Year holiday which falls in late January this year.

SMM data showed that iron ore stocks across 35 Chinese ports decreased 1.66 million mt in the week ended January 10 to 113.74 million mt, after a decline of 1.63 million mt in the previous week. This was 14.79 million mt lower than the same period last year.

Deliveries leaving those ports, however, dropped this week, indicating that the pre-holiday stockpiling activity is running out of steam.

A sharp decline in Dalian iron ore futures prices on the back of geopolitical turmoil also dampened buying enthusiasm among steelmakers this week.

For the same week, iron ore deliveries from the 35 ports averaged 2.79 million mt per day, down 77,000 mt from the previous week.