China's imports of iron ore rose 5.1% in April from the same period the previous year, customs data showed on Tuesday, as buyers anticipated strong demand for the steelmaking ingredient during the peak spring construction season.
"According to our model, the usage of imported iron ore increased by over 6% in April, and therefore there is no surprise to see a mild year-on-year increase in imports in the past month," said Pei Hao, a Shanghai-based senior analyst at international brokerage firm FIS.
Iron ore imports over January-April totalled 385 million tonnes, up 8.6% from the same period in 2022, according to customs, benefiting from expectations of robust downstream demand recovery in March and April after Beijing's abrupt abandonment of its strict zero-COVID policy late last year.