Iron ore imports arriving in China decreased by 3.9% year on year to 1.124 billion mt in 2021, as announced by the Chinese customs authorities.

This result was expected due to the curbs in production for steel which started in June last year. In the second half of the year, iron ore consumption declined by at least 10 percent due to these measures.

In December alone, China imported 86.074 million mt of iron ore, down 11.03 percent year on year, while down 17.99 percent month on month, reflecting slack demand for import iron ore during the traditional offseason.

Meanwhile, steel prices in the Chinese domestic market edged up slightly amid futures price fluctuations and some slight restocking activity, which bolstered import iron ore prices, resulting in a rising trend of import iron ore prices in December last year.