Chinese New Year (CNY) mill restockingcompleted last week (week commencing12 February 2018) as China began itsnational holiday. However, iron orestockpiles at 45 ports are hoveringaround near-record levels of morethan 150 million metric tons. While thisapparent surplus of iron ore may keep alid on near-term prices, there is mountingmarket optimism on bullish demand asChina enters the Year of the Dog. As themarket is expected to remain extremelyvolatile in 2018, port stocks will continueto provide Chinese mills with the optionof buying iron ore on a ‘just in time’ basis,thereby optimizing costs and benefitingsteel mill margins.
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