SHANGHAI — China imported 70.94 million tonnes of iron ore in December, marking a new historical high, as well as a rise of 7.8 percent vs. November, initial customs data show.
"The high imports coincided with the jump in iron ore prices and reflected steel mills’ high production rate," a Beijing trader told AMM sister publication Steel First, saying it confirmed as inaccurate the China Iron and Steel Association’s estimated drop in December’s average daily crude steel output to 1.918 million tonnes, down 2 percent from November.
Full-year iron ore imports rose 8.4 percent to 743.55 million tonnes, data show.
A version of this article was first published by AMM sister publication Steel First.