China’s import trends in May

Amid the slower-than-forecast imports for China for May, the usual suspects – iron ore, copper, and coal – stood out, but oil slid, even though global prices were not all that strong.

In fact, some canny analysts reckon China trimmed oil imports because of weak refining margins and the growing impact of growing sales of NEVs – Battery and Plug-in Hybrids – which are reducing demand for petrol (and impacting margins).

China's iron ore imports in May stayed above 100 million tonnes for a third straight month, customs data showed on Friday.

The world's largest iron ore consumer imported 102.03 million tonnes in May, according to the monthly data from China’s General Administration of Customs.

That was far away from the 101.82 million tonnes imported in April (and was the third 100 million tonne-plus month in a row) and 96.17 million tonnes in May 2023.

Persistent higher imports saw a steep rise in portside inventories, which climbed to 145.5 million tons by the end of May, the highest since April 2022, Mysteel reported last week.

For the first five months of 2024, China's iron ore imports totaled 513.75 million tonnes, a year-on-year increase of 7%, the data showed.

Now, when will China start limiting steel production to cut coal consumption and carbon emissions? It’s been threatened, now to see what actually transpires.

China's imports of coal rose 11% in May from a year earlier, as lower domestic output this year saw higher inbound shipments.