China's ROM iron ore output rises 7.1% y-o-y in Jan-Nov'23

Run-of-mine (ROM) iron ore output at Chinese miners totalled 904 million tonnes over January-November, rising by 7.1% compared with the corresponding period in 2022, according to new data from China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

For November alone, China produced 85.6 million tonnes of ROM iron ore, with the volume thinning by 1% on month after October's gain, the NBS data showed. Last month's result was still 6.6% higher than November 2022, however.

Specifically, two out of the country's top four iron-ore producing bases posted on-month drops in their ROM iron ore output last month, Mysteel Global notes. Miners in North China's Hebei province produced 36.5 million tonnes in November, 6% lower on month, while output among those in Northeast China's Liaoning decreased by a smaller 3% on month to total 13.8 million tonnes.

In fact, many mining companies in Tangshan in Hebei were ordered to reduce or halt their operations for two weeks from mid-November till end-month, as the local authorities wanted to improve air quality over the city, as reported.

As for miners in Liaoning, they suspended mining operations during most of last month to submit to safety inspections being conducted by China's National Mine Safety Administration, Mysteel Global noted.

Consequently, Chinese miners' lower production in November meant that their internal stocks of iron ore also shrank. As of November 30, the volume of domestically-mined iron ore concentrates held by the 186 miners under Mysteel's regular tracking thinned by 2% on month to 900,500 tonnes, the lowest since Mysteel launched the survey in January 2019.

Nursing such low level of ore stocks spurred many mining companies to raise their offering prices of iron ore concentrates, as reported. Meanwhile, in November the strong performance of iron ore derivatives and spot prices of imported iron ore also prompted those miners to price their ore higher.

For example, the offering price of 65% Fe grade concs in Tangshan was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 1,165/dmt ($163.4/dmt) as of November 30, higher by Yuan 69/dmt on month.

Note: This article has been written in accordance with an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.