China's iron ore imports rise in July despite pollution curbs
China’s iron ore imports rebounded in July, customs data showed on Wednesday, buoyed by record steel production and strong margins as official measures to cut pollution curb the output of cheaper products from small mills.
The world’s top iron ore importer bought 89.96 million tonnes of the steel making raw material last month, according to the General Administration of Customs, up from June’s 83.24 million tonnes and 88.66 million tonnes in July last year.
Shipments for the first seven months of this year fell 0.7 percent from a year ago to 620.65 million tonnes, the customs data showed.
China, the world’s leading steelmaker, churned out a record 80.2 million tonnes of crude steel last month, just shy of the 81.6 million tonnes the United States produced in whole of 2017.
