China July iron ore stocks up 2.69 mln tons over previous month
2009-08-07 11:08:23The iron ore stocks of 19 Chinese ports reached 73.29 million tons by the end of July, 2.69 million tons more than what was stocked at the end of June, and approaching the record 73.5 million tons seen late May, according to statistics released by Umetal.com.
More so, it is highly probably that China's iron ore imports will continue mounting higher with an August price surge.
According to statistics by a shipping institution, July orders of Brazilian iron ore increased to 39 from the 24 placed in June, while orders of Australian ore fell from June's 40 to 31.
"Responding to the unfolding Rio Tinto spy case, domestic steel makers and trading companies have canceled deals with Australian miners and switched over to dealing with Brazilian miners," a trader told the press.
At the same time, iron ore spot prices kept increasing, barely influenced by the high inventory. On August 5, the CIF price of 63.5 percent Indian fine ore was 103-105 U.S. dollars per ton.
A securities analyst held that the spot prices still have plenty of room above to increase, as steel prices are presently growing faster than iron ore prices. "The profit of architectural steel has reached a record high of one thousand yuan per ton," he said.
According to the trader, many Chinese steel makers have turned to buying fine iron powder produced domestically, as Indian fine ores demand too high a price. In this case, Chinese steel makers will depend less on foreign ores.
From:www.chinamining.org
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