China’s iron ore and concentrate imports increased by 8pc in Q1 2021 to 28.34mn mt from 26.23mn mt in the same quarter last year, according to the country’s preliminary Customs data. The value of iron ore imports in the first quarter also increased by 77.7pc to $42.74bn compared to $24.05bn in Q1 2020.
The country’s steel imports rose by 17pc during the annual period under review to 371,000mt from 317,000mt, the data indicated, with the value of steel shipments increasing by 29.5pc to $4.2bn from $3.3bn.
In March, China imported 132,000mt of steel valued at $1.6bn, while iron ore shipments to the country tallied at 10.21mn mt and were worth $16.38bn in the same month.
Steel exports also increased by 24pc to 1.77mn mt in January-March compared to 1.42mn mt during the same quarter last year, while their value increased by 38.4pc to $15.16bn from $10.95bn during the same period. In March, China exported 754,000mt of steel valued at $6.32bn.