Iron ore price surge end-2020 fails to deter build in port stocks

Iron ore prices rose by more than 70% in 2020, but this failed to have put a dent on iron ore stocks held at Chinese ports, which ended the year at almost the same level it had started the year. This indicated that the correlation between port stocks and seaborne iron ore prices was not particularly strong and other factors, such as steel mill margins and sentiment played a far bigger role.
According to CEIC Data, China's port inventories stood at 124.5 million mt on Dec. 27, 2020 compared with 124.6 million mt on Jan. 5, 2020. S&P Global Platts 62% iron ore fines benchmark was assessed at an average of $161.21/mt CFR China during the week of Dec. 27, 2020, down from the year's peak of $168.36/mt the week before, and up 71.4% from the average of $94.06/mt during the week of Jan. 5, 2020.