interesting article iron ore china stockpile, page-5

Not really. These centrally planned economies put aside monies and say to their underlings "go and buy X tonnes of this". So that is what they do until well after the point where a rational person would stop and say we have enough for now. Well they bought too much at too high a price and then stopped buying - hence the broad collapse in commodity prices. Now, they will start to forecast their requirements and will restart buying minerals again. Don't forget, China shuts down for both Christian and Chinese New Years. So they have a very long silly season.