China is finding it harder than expected to clear out iron ore stocks that are overwhelming its ports, a senior official said on Wednesday, as stocks creep up past 80 million tonnes.
Severe congestion at northern Chinese ports is contributing to a rise in freight rates, which hit all-time highs last week.
That in turn has weakened [...]

China’s key steel industry association July 18 accused the world’s three leading iron ore producers of cutting back on supply to ensure strong prices ahead of next year’s negotiations. Brazil’s Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, Australia’s BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto are “working together” to strengthen their negotiating positions in talks with Chinese steelmakers, the [...]

Anglo-Australian mining group Rio Tinto denied on Wednesday a charge by China’s steel industry association that iron ore producers are cutting back production to boost prices.
China is the world’s biggest consumer of iron ore and faces new price negotiations next year with the “big three” producers — Rio Tinto, Brazil’s Companhia Vale do Rio Doce [...]

China’s imports of iron ore jumped 23.4 percent in the first quarter from a year ago as companies piled up stock before international price hikes took effect this month, state media said Thursday.
In the first three months of this year, China imported 100.2 million tonnes of iron ore, up 23.4 percent year on year, the [...]

China’s stainless steel output for 2006 totaled 5.3 million Metric Tonnes, a year over year increase of 67.68%. The National Development and Reform Commission stated last week that this sector is expected to further grow by 8% this year. The NDRC predicts prices to rise gradually in 2007 with a focus mainly on technological upgrades [...]

China imported 3.78 million tonnes of nickel ore last year, a 6.8-fold increase compared with the previous year, according to statistics released by the General Administration of Customs.
Total nickel ore imports amounted to RMB 3.41 billion ($440 million) in 2006, 1.5 times the amount for 2005. However, average import prices declined by 67.7% to RMB [...]

China’s iron production slowed in August to 16.6 percent, 5.9 percentage points lower than the July pace, indicating that government measures to rein in fixed-assets investment may be taking effect.
The figure was released by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) among statistics for the country’s nonferrous metal industry.
The slowing pace comes amid predictions that [...]