{"id":433,"date":"2017-01-13T11:09:36","date_gmt":"2017-01-13T11:09:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/?p=433"},"modified":"2017-01-13T11:09:36","modified_gmt":"2017-01-13T11:09:36","slug":"thirty-two-tons-a-second-shows-chinas-record-iron-appetite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/2017\/01\/13\/thirty-two-tons-a-second-shows-chinas-record-iron-appetite\/","title":{"rendered":"Thirty-Two Tons a Second Shows China\u2019s Record Iron Appetite"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Bloomberg):\u00a0<\/strong>Iron ore imports by China surged to a record above 1 billion metric tons last year as unexpectedly strong steel production and lower local mine output combined to fire up demand in the world\u2019s top buyer for cargoes from Australia and Brazil, supporting a rebound in prices. Asia\u2019s top economy imported 1.024 billion tons in 2016,\u00a0up 7.5 percent from a year earlier,\u00a0according to customs data issued on Friday: that\u2019s about 32 tons a second, according to Bloomberg calculations.<\/p>\n

Iron ore surged more than 80 percent last year as China added stimulus to sustain economic growth, bolstering steel production,\u00a0soaking up rising low-cost mine supply and shredding bears\u2019 forecasts. The outlook depends on the country\u2019s ability to absorb even greater volumes, with Australia\u2019s government among those seeing little scope for gains, while others see the potential for a further increase. Seaborne supply may expand again this year as Brazil\u2019s Vale SA starts up production at its giant S11D project.<\/p>\n

Imports should \u201ccontinue to rise through 2017,\u201d Justin Smirk, a senior economist at Westpac Banking Corp., said in an e-mail before the data. \u201cIt is all about supply, the supply of ore in the seaborne trade from both Australia and Brazil, as well as some of the smaller producers, continues to grow and as such, will continue to enter the Chinese markets.\u201d Iron ore with 62 percent content delivered to Qingdao, which hit a two-year high of $83.58 a dry ton last month,\u00a0was at $80.99 on Thursday, according to Metal Bulletin Ltd. data. On Friday, futures in Asia were mixed as the SGX AsiaClear contract for May delivery added 0.3 percent while Dalian prices fell.<\/p>\n

Westpac\u2019s Smirk cautioned prices may slip even as imports continue to rise as \u201crather than suggesting that demand for imported ore is strong, I would argue to suggest that supply is growing again,\u201d he said. Without a solid lift in demand, there may be a correction in prices through 2017, he warned. Australia, the world\u2019s largest exporter, forecast this month that prices may drop back amid a leveling off in demand for cargoes in China and rising supply. The country may purchase 1.047 billion tons this year and 1.049 billion tons in 2018, the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science estimated.<\/p>\n

A survey of industry participants by Singapore Exchange Ltd., which offers iron ore futures, was more positive. Consensus opinion is that Chinese imports will continue to increase in 2017, as will seaborne trade overall, the exchange said in a report this month, with a majority seeing prices holding steady or rising.<\/p>\n

As China\u2019s imports of ore have ballooned to a record, so too have holdings at the country\u2019s ports, which have hit an all-time high. The stockpiles surged 2.4 percent to 116.7 million tons last week, according to Shanghai Steelhome Information Technology Co. Brazil\u2019s Vale is due start commercial output this month from S11D, the world\u2019s biggest iron ore project.\u00a0A decade in the making, the $14 billion mine located on the fringes of the Amazon in Para state will ramp up to annual capacity of 90 million tons by 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Bloomberg):\u00a0Iron ore imports by China surged to a record above 1 billion metric tons last year as unexpectedly strong steel production and lower local mine output combined to fire up demand in the world\u2019s top buyer for cargoes from Australia and Brazil, supporting a rebound in prices. Asia\u2019s top economy imported 1.024 billion tons in 2016,\u00a0up 7.5 percent from a… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[24,60,7,59,61,62,63],"class_list":["post-433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-australia","tag-brazil","tag-china","tag-exports","tag-importse","tag-iron-ore","tag-steel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":434,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433\/revisions\/434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/eastasiaandoceaniablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}