Stockpiles of imported iron ore at China’s leading ports increased by 310,000 tons in the week beginning 18 January, reaching a three-month high of 67.42m tons by 22 January, the China Securities Journal reported.

Shipments from Australia increased by 200,000 tons over the previous week to 22.23m tons, accounting for one-third of the total. Brazil (27.5 per cent of the total) and India (21.3 per cent) were the next two largest sources, according to statistics released by Mysteel.com.

However, iron ore imports in January may actually drop slightly from the previous month because of low turnover at the start of the month, said Hu Kai, an analyst with the steels and raw materials information website Umetal.com. China imported 62.16m tons of iron ore in December.