Among them, the number of outbound trains during the period was 1,023, up 54.3 percent year-on-year, while 1,135 inbound trains were recorded, up 52.6 percent, according to China Railway Hohhot Group.

The country's steel imports surged 73.9 percent year-on-year to over 17 million tons in the Jan-Oct period. The growth was up 1.7 percentage points from the first three quarters, MIIT data showed.

China's steel imports registered rapid growth in the first 10 months of the year, while the decline in exports narrowed, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

The strong economic data boosted sentiment even further in the iron ore market.

China's benchmark power coal price rose slightly during the past week.

The first batch of steel rails made in China for use on Indonesia's Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway was shipped on Saturday from the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

The 2101 ferrosilicon contract price on ZCE closed at 6542 yuan per ton on December 10.

The 2101 ferrosilicon contract price on ZCE closed at 6628 yuan per ton on December 9.