From Mac Bank today:
Iron ore inventory held by smaller mills in China has declined sharply over the last month, according to data from Mysteel. Current stocks are reported to be equivalent to 23.8 days of use, down from a recent peak of 29.7 days at the start of January. While this destocking helps explain weakness in the iron ore price over 2014 to date (prices have fallen nearly 9% since the start of the year), it contrasts with widely publicised data showing a strong rise in the volume of iron ore inventory being held at ports in China. In our view, the mill inventory data is the better indicator as it includes inventory that mills own in their stockyards, at port and at sea. The divergence between the two data sets seems to relate to inventory positioning, with mills now holding a larger proportion of stock at port or in their stock yard than a month ago, while the share held at sea has fallen from 49% to 38%.
Some reassurance there but these are only the small mills. I will post when I retrieve the big mills data.
