According to Xinhua-China iron ore price index recently, the domestic imported iron ore stockpiles in Chinese 25 main ports reached 99.97 million metric tons on February 13, dropping by 0.15 million metric tons compared to previous week. At the same time, the price index for imported 63.5% iron ore was roughly 148, up 1 unit week over week. However the prices for 58% iron ore also hiked by 1 unit from previous week to 125.
Impacted by the dormant market demand from final customers, steelmakers are still not running at full capacity. Thus just few mills are reluctant to replenish their stockpiles.
As for the market prospect, experts said that although the approaching steel high season will mitigate the weak market situation gradually, there is just little chance for the iron ore price to rocket up substantially owing to the huge fund problems within steel mills.