BEIJING: China’s iron ore imports in 2024 rose for a second year to a record high, up 4.9% from the prior year, customs data showed on Monday, as lower prices spurred buying and demand remained resilient despite its sluggish economy.
The world’s largest iron ore consumer brought in a total of about 1.24 billion metric tons last year, data from the country’s General Administration of Customs showed, versus 1.18 billion metric tons in 2023 when it posted an annual increase of 6.6%.
Although steel output slid by 2.7% from the year before in the first 11 months of 2024 and was on track for an annual decline, demand for the key steelmaking ingredient remained solid as it was still more cost competitive to produce steel from the blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace that consumes iron ore.
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In comparison, the electric arc furnace-based steelmakers which intake scrap material had to either conduct maintenance or scale down production due to losses amid persistent constraints on scrap supply.
Additionally, traders that had bought high-cost iron ore earlier last year continued purchasing for the key steelmaking ingredient in a bid to average out their overall production costs and reduce loss, said analysts.
Higher imports contributed to a price slump and a pile-up in portside stocks, which climbed by 28% year-on-year to 146.85 million tons as of Dec. 27, data from consultancy Steelhome showed.
Iron ore prices slid by 31% last year, according to Steelhome data.
In December alone, China imported 112.49 million tons of iron ore, up 10.4% from 101.86 million tons in November.
The December volume compared to 100.86 million tons in the same month in 2023.
China’s iron ore imports are likely to hit a new high in 2025 as traders stockpile cheap ore for the world’s top consumer despite a protracted property crisis continuing to weigh on domestic steel demand, traders and analysts said.
Steel trade
China exported 9.73 million tons of steel products in December, a year-on-year rise of 25.9% and a month-on-month increase of 4.9%.
That has brought total steel exports this year to the highest since 2015 at 110.72 million tons with an annual increase of 22.7%.
China also imported 621,000 tons of steel in December, bringing the 2024 total to 6.82 million tons, a fall of 10.9% from 2023.
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