Thirty-Two Tons a Second Shows China’s Record Iron Appetite
- World’s largest steelmaker boosts demand for overseas cargoes
- Iron ore rallied more than 80% in 2016 as bears caught out
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Iron ore imports by China surged to a record above 1 billion metric tons last year as unexpectedly strong steel production and lower local mine output combined to fire up demand in the world’s top buyer for cargoes from Australia and Brazil, supporting a rebound in prices.
Asia’s top economy imported 1.024 billion tons in 2016, up 7.5 percent from a year earlier, according to customs data issued on Friday: that’s about 32 tons a second, according to Bloomberg calculations. Purchases last month totaled about 89 million tons, compared with 96.3 million tons a year earlier.