The iron ore price is project to drop to $55/t fob by the end of this year's final quarter, the Australian treasury said.

Zhanjiang saw a resumption of growth in its economy in the first half of this year after the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

China's Tianjin port saw iron ore imports rise 13.6 percent year-on-year to around 37.86 million tons in the first half of this year, according to Tianjin Customs.

Japan's iron ore imports fell further in June, as domestic steel mills maintained output cuts under pressure from lower manufacturing sector demand because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Australian mining giant BHP has recorded its largest quarterly output of iron ore ever from the company's Western Australian (WA) operations, due to strong demand from Chinese steel mills.

Citigroup said in a report that by the end of this year, iron ore inventory in Chinese ports may increase to 140 million tons.

According to Tianjin Customs, in the first half of this year, a total of 37.859 million tons of iron ore were imported at Tianjin port.

UK-Australian mining company BHP has maintained its iron ore production guidance at 276mn-286mn t in the July 2020 to June 2021 financial year.