China’s crude production, iron ore imports and real estate investment and sales figures are among the most important figures from the monthly data drop in Beijing – for March there was good and bad news for the Australian market and companies such as Fortescue Metals (FMG).
While iron ore imports rose in March and in the first quarter, March quarter steel production dipped for the first time in 20 years, figures from the National Statistics Bureau said yesterday.
Crude steel production from January to March slid 1.7% from a year earlier to 200.1 million tonnes. Up till now first quarter output hasn’t contracted since 1995.
And steel output fell 1.2% in March from a year earlier.
Iron ore imports jumped 18.5% in March, to 80.51 million tonnes, from February, and were up 2.4% in the first quarter to 230 million tonnes.
But that 2.4% growth rate was a fraction of the 19% jump seen in the first quarter of 2014, compared to the first quarter of 2013.
So it looks like China’s iron ore import needs are slowing sharply and perhaps peaking this year?
And investment in China’s property sector slowed to an annual rate of 8.5% in the March quarter (compared to the same period of 2014), down from the 10.4% rate in January and February and 10.5% in 2014.
That was in turn almost half the 19.8% rate over all of 2013. The March quarter’s figure was the lowest since the 8.3% low in 2009.
Property sales volume dropped 9.2% from the year-earlier period, narrowing from a 16.3% decline in January to February.
Global iron ore prices dipped under $US50 a tonne on Wednesday night to $US49.70, a fall of 0.8%.
