China’s iron ore imports in June climbed by 8% from May as some miners ramped up shipments to meet quarterly targets after cyclones in Australia hit first quarter imports and as lower ore prices and healthy steel margins spurred demand.

The world’s largest iron ore consumer brought in 105.95 million metric tons of the key steelmaking ingredient last month, the highest for a single month so far this year, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Monday.

The volume in June, in line with analysts’ expectations, compared to 98.13 million tons in May and was also up 8.5% from 97.61 million tons in June 2024.

Shipments have increased dramatically thanks to miners’ efforts to catch up with quarterly targets, according to Pei Hao, an analyst at international brokerage Freight Investor Services.

Also, stronger-than-expected steel demand in the off-peak season due in part to robust steel exports also fuelled buying appetite for the key steelmaking ingredient, analysts said.

“Handsome profits incentivised steelmakers to initiate a wave of iron ore stockpiling especially when the hot metal output still stayed at a relatively high level, contributing to higher imports last month,” said Cao Ying, a Beijing-based analyst at broker SDIC Futures.

Higher imports led portside inventory (SH-TOT-IRONINV) to rise 0.5% month-on-month to 133.6 million tons by late June, data from consultancy Steelhome showed.

For the first half of the year, China’s iron ore imports declined by 3% year-on-year to 592.21 million tons.

STEEL EXPORTS

China’s steel exports in June slid by 8.5% from May to a four-month low of 9.68 million tons.

But total outbound shipments in the first half rose 9.2% year-on-year to an all-time high of 58.15 million tons as steelmakers boosted exports ahead of an expected drop in demand due to U.S. tariff hikes.

China’s steel imports dropped 18% year-on-year to 470,000 tons last month, with the total from January to June down 16.4% on the year to 3.02 million tons.
Source: Reuters