China's iron ore stocks fall 2 pct on strong demand

SHANGHAI, May 18 (Reuters) - Iron ore stocks at China's major
ports fell 2 percent to 74.06 million tonnes in the week to
Friday, Chinica Shipbrokers Ltd said, as mills pulled stocks into
their warehouses due to solid steel prices spurring production.

Chinese spot steel prices edged up last week in a third
consecutive weekly gain, as traders rebuilt stocks after prices
fell to a five-month low in April and industrial production
showed firm growth. [ID:nSEO283075]

"Profits in medium- and small-sized mills are good so they
built up more inventories at warehouses for more production,"
said a trader based in the northern province of Hebei, home to
hundreds of private, small-sized blast furnaces.

Iron stocks at China's two largest iron ore ports, based in
the eastern province of Shandong, have been close to their
maximum capacity, with stocks down by 100,000 tonnes in Qingdao
but up 300,000 tonnes in Rizhao.

Here is a table of iron ore stocks as of May 15:

STOCKS CHANGE ON WEEK

MLN TONNES TONNES PCT CHANGE
MAY 15 74.06 -1,564,000 -2
MAY 8 75.62 1,106,000 1.5
MAY 1 74.52 -171,000 -0.2
APRIL 24 74.69 704,000 1
APRIL 17 73.98 1,534,000 2
APRIL 10 72.45 -100,000 -0.1
APRIL 3 72.55 1,033,000 1
MARCH 27 71.52 1,980,000 3
MARCH 20 69.54 1,053,000 2
MARCH 13 64.52 1,994,000 3
MARCH 6 62.53 3,397,000 6
FEB 27 59.13 827,000 1
FEB 19 58.30 174,000 0.3
FEB 13 58.13 -2,028,000 -3
FEB 6 60.16 210,000 0.4
JAN 23 59.95 -1,214,000 -2
JAN 16 61.16 -648,000 -1
JAN 9 61.81 -812,000 -1
DEC 26 62.62 310,000 0.5
(Reporting by Alfred Cang and Jacqueline Wong)