The iron ore complex settled a little on Thursday, although shorter-term futures pushed higher as restocking demand increased at mills across China.
Texture from Reuters on the record levels of imports of iron ore:
“(Mills) are currently at pre-holidays restocking period, adding that steel profits are good, there’s a possibility that they will increase purchase amid concerns of transportation curbs due to the virus,” Sinosteel Futures wrote in a note.
China’s iron ore imports hit a record high in 2020, jumping 9.5% from a year earlier as the country beefed up spending on infrastructure to help spur the world’s second-biggest economy amid the coronavirus pandemic.
China, the world’s top steel producer, imported 1.17 billion tonnes of iron ore in 2020, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Thursday.
That passed annual imports of 1.069 billion tonnes in 2019 and the previous record of 1.075 billion tonnes set in 2017.