Brazilian mining firm Vale said it expects to achieve iron ore production capacity of 350mn t/yr this year, up by 8.7pc from a year earlier.

Baowu produced 96mn t of steel in 2019 to overtake Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal, which produced 89.8mn t, as the world's largest steelmaker.

According to the Wuhan Shipping Exchange, the ships overstocking in some ports continued this week.

Bahia Mining Company begins production of iron ore in Pedra de Ferro

The first shipment of iron ore from Sierra Leone's New Tonkolili Iron Ore Project set sail for China from the country's Pepel Port on Friday.

A few days ago, Anglo-American Resources Group (Anglo American) released the fourth quarter of 2020 production report showed that the fourth quarter of last year, total iron ore production increased by 10% from a month earlier.

China's imports of bulk commodities such as oil, gas and iron ore from Russia increased significantly last year.

Anglo American's Minas-Rio project increases iron ore production by 4% in 2020