China's iron ore imports hit four-month low in October ahead of winter curbs
BEIJING/MANILA (Reuters) - China’s imports of steelmaking ingredient iron ore fell to a four-month low in October, customs data showed on Thursday, reflecting slower shipments from major suppliers even as Chinese demand remained strong ahead of winter production curbs.
China brought in 88.4 million tons of iron ore last month, data from the General Administration of Customs showed, the lowest since June and 5.4 percent below September’s 93.47 million tons.
Still, the October imports were up from 79.47 million tons in the same month last year.
“Chinese demand remained strong as you can see from the capacity utilization at steel mills which remained very high,” said Richard Lu, analyst at CRU consultancy in Beijing.
“So the drop in imports is really due to reduced shipments from major suppliers,” said Lu, citing slower flow of cargoes from top iron ore supplier Australia in early October.
“Another reason may be the yuan depreciation,” the analyst said. “A lot of iron ore buyers shifted to port stocks from seaborne because it’s much cheaper for them to buy in yuan than in U.S. dollars.”
Data from the China Iron and Steel Association showed that average daily crude steel production at its member mills stood at 1.97 million tons over Oct. 1-20, nearly matching September’s 1.98 million tons.
