En inmiddels puilen de havens uit, laatste keer gezien in 2012:
Iron ore stockpiles in China, the biggest buyer, climbed to a record as traders imported more to use the steel-making ingredient as collateral to get credit, while demand at home remained weak.
Inventories at Chinese ports were 100.25 million metric tons last week, climbing above a 100-million-ton mark for the first time since July 2012, according to data from Shanghai Steelhome Information Technology Co.
…“Cash-tight Chinese steel mills refrained from buying raw materials, while imports kept piling up at ports as more cargoes are being hauled in for trade-financing deals,” Gao Bo, chief iron ore analyst at Mysteel.com, a researcher in Shanghai, said by phone from Beijing today.
Steel mills and trading firms in China are contending with increasing difficulty in getting funding, said Mysteel’s Gao. “The funding situation in the steel industry was getting worse last month,” he said.
…Stockpiles of steel products also rose as construction activity remained weak after the Lunar New Year holidays, Gao said. Traders’ stockpiles of rebar, a building material, jumped by 65 per cent this year to 8.55 million tons last week, according to Shanghai Steelhome.
at 12:39am on February 18, 2014