Inventories of iron ore across Chinese ports declined by a smaller margin last week, as arrivals remained limited while demand weakened.
SMM data showed that iron ore stocks across 35 Chinese ports decreased 350,000 tonnes from a week ago to 116.45 million tonnes as of November 8, after a drop of 2 million tonnes in the prior week. This was 14.38 million tonnes lower than a year ago.
Demand weakened with the daily average iron ore deliveries from those ports falling 117,000 from the prior week to 2.75 million tonnes in the week ended November 8.
Steelmakers turned cautious about feedstock procurement as they looked ahead to local governments' decisions on winter production curbs this year as the smog season approaches.
Maintenance at some steel mills also dented demand last week.
(Writing by Alex Guo Editing by Harry Huo)
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