China's iron ore imports at five-month low as thin margins dent appetite (updated)

BHP

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Nov 10 (Reuters) - China's iron ore imports in October slid 3.8% from the month before to a five-month low, as persistently weak steel margins dampened buying appetite and global shipments fell.
The world's largest iron ore consumer brought in 105.66 million metric tons of the key steelmaking ingredient last month, the lowest monthly level since May, data from the country's General Administration of Customs showed on Tuesday.
The October volume was also down 5.1% from the same month a year earlier. 
Global shipments fell in October as a seasonal surge in the third quarter faded, leading to lower imports last month, according to Cody Wang, an analyst at consultancy Steelhome.
"Domestic steelmakers were only willing to book seaborne cargoes to meet production needs with margins under persistent pressure," said Wang.
Elevated raw materials prices and weaker-than-expected steel demand have hit steel margins. Only around 9% of Chinese steelmakers were operating at a profit in October, versus 11% in September, data from consultancy Mysteel showed. 
Some mills also started equipment maintenance, reducing appetite for ore.
The average daily hot metal output — a gauge of iron ore demand — dropped 1.3% in October from the month before, according to Reuters calculations based on Mysteel data.
However, iron ore imports have topped 100 million tons for five straight months amid lower domestic supply.
China's output of iron ore run-of-mine, which will be processed further into concentrate, tumbled 10.3% from the year-ago level in the first nine months, statistics data showed.
In the first ten months of 2026, China's iron ore imports totalled 1.06 billion tons, an annual rise of 3.1%.
China's steel exports fell 6.1% month-on-month in October to a six-month low at 9.85 million tons due to strength in the yuan, which undermines exporters' ability to compete on price.
Steel exports for the January-October period fell 2.3% year-on-year to 95.5 million tons.
    

 (Reporting by Amy Lv and Lewis Jackson; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
 ((Amy.Lv@thomsonreuters.com;))