Rio says China is showing growing appetite for iron ore

Australia's biggest trading partner is rebounding quickly from its encounter with the coronavirus and showing a strong appetite for Australian iron ore, says Rio Tinto iron ore boss Chris Salisbury.

In a positive sign for Australia's most lucrative export industries, Mr Salisbury said a worrying surge in Chinese steel stockpiles during February had started to recede, suggesting the Chinese construction sector was emerging from hibernation and demand for Australian commodities would hold firm.

Chinese ports like this one in Dalian are working hard again. Sheng Li

''We are very pleased in the way China has come back so fast. They had their own challenges associated with the virus and the slowing of their economy, but what we saw right through that period was iron ore demand did not change,'' he told Perth radio station 6PR on Tuesday.

''The downstream industries did slow or shut and we saw steel stockpiles start to rise dramatically, which was a concern, but I am pleased to say that since China has returned to work, we are now seeing steel stockpiles falling, our order books are full, we have ships off the coast waiting to be loaded so our business continues to operate more or less unaffected.''

The comments support economic data published by China last week, which suggested the economy had rebounded to growth in March after contracting in February.