SHANGHAI, Jan 17 (SMM) – Inventories of seaborne iron ore across Chinese ports rose this week, after declining for two consecutive weeks, due to more arrivals.

SMM data showed that iron ore stocks across 35 Chinese ports increased 650,000 mt in the week ended January 17 to 114.4 million mt, after a decline of 1.66 million mt in the previous week. This was 15.82 million mt lower than the same period last year.

SMM estimates that there were 87 vessels carrying 14.18 million mt of iron ore arrived at major Chinese ports during January 5-11, up 300,000 mt from the week ended January 4. This marked a second consecutive week of increase.

The inventory increase came despite greater demand, with the average iron ore daily deliveries leaving those ports climbing 126,000 mt from the prior week to 2.92 million mt. Ports in Shandong, Tangshan and along the Yangtze River all saw moderate gains in deliveries this week.

With pre-holiday stockpiling by steelmakers grinding to a halt, iron ore deliveries from Chinese ports are likely to weaken next week.