China’s iron ore imports in May went down by 8.9pc from the prior month to 89.79omn mt due to lower seasonal levels of shipments from major miners. In April, imports had reached 98.57mn mt. However, the imports were up 3.2pc from the same month in 2020, according to customs data released on Monday.
Iron ore imports were adversely affected for two consecutive months as supplies from Australia and Brazil, the main producers deteriorated due to harsh weather.
The data pointed out China’s steel exports in May rose 33.9pc from the prior month to 5.27mn mt. This happened, post the cancellation of tax rebates for most steel exports from May 1 onward.
The country’s May steel imports were at 1.21mn mt, up 2.7pc from April, the customs data showed.