The blast furnace operating rate of some major steel mills in China has declined gradually, and the demand for iron ore also went down. However, the iron ore inventory for mills was still low. The mills will have more demand for their stock due to the upcoming Chinese New Year, which also caused iron ore prices to keep high last week.

The steel prices went down gradually and the end-use demand fell down. The mills' profit became smaller and it was estimated the mill production will decline and the demand for iron ore will change accordingly.

However, China's steel prices for the global market still rose, and it will support iron ore prices at a high level.