China March Iron Ore Imports Drop To 20-Month Low, Missing Expectations

in Dry Bulk Market,Freight News

15/04/2025

China’s iron ore imports in March fell slightly from the prior month to a 20-month low, defying analysts’ expectations that monthly shipments would pick up as weather-induced supply disruptions eased.

The world’s largest iron ore consumer brought in 93.97 million metric tons of the key steelmaking ingredient last month, the lowest since July 2023, according to the data.

That was down 0.25% from 94.21 million tons imported in February when cyclones in major supplier Australia disrupted supply and down 6.7% from 100.72 million tons in the same month in 2024.

The March volume was also well below analyst forecasts of more than 100 million tons.

“March imports missed our expectations. The reason why March imports were not back to the normal level is probably because of the lingering impact from the weather disruptions in February,” said Chu Xinli, a Shanghai-based analyst at broker China Futures.

Lower-than-expected imports last month led to a 2.6% drop in portside inventory (SH-TOT-IRONINV), while seaborne iron ore prices (SH-CCN-IRNOR62) rose by 2.5%, data from consultancy Steelhome showed.

“There should be some cargoes that have arrived but have not yet cleared customs, and therefore were not counted in imports in March. As a result, we expect to see April imports to top 100 million tons,” said Steven Yu, senior analyst at consultancy Mysteel.

Iron ore imports in the first quarter of 2025 fell by 7.8% from the prior year to 285.31 million tons.

Analysts pegged expected iron ore imports in April at between 100 million and 106 million tons, with miners continuing to hasten shipments to ensure they achieve their annual targets.

STEEL TRADE

China’s exports of steel products in March jumped by 5.76% year-on-year to 10.46 million tons thanks to front-run shipments amid fears of intensifying global trade tensions after Trump took office in January.

That brought the total exports in the first quarter to the highest for the period since 2016 at 27.43 million tons, an annual increase of 6.3%, customs data showed.

China’s steel imports fell 18.8% on the year to 501,000 tons last month, with the total from January to March dropping by 11.3% year-on-year to 1.55 million tons.

Source: Reuters