IRON ore imports by China, the world's biggest buyer of the commodity, climbed to a 20-month high on speculation steel demand may increase.

Imports totalled 65.01 million tonnes in September, China's customs bureau said.

The shipments, the highest since January 2011, rose 4.1 percent from August and 7.3 percent from the 60.57 million tonnes a year earlier.

Prices for the steel-making material, which plunged to a near three-year low of $US86.70 a tonne on September 5, have rebounded 32 per cent after China announced plans for extra infrastructure spending.

The nation's exports grew at the fastest pace in three months in September, easing concern the global economy is heading for the first recession since 2009.

''Expectation of higher steel consumption in autumn also triggered some buying activities,'' said Zhou Yuanjian, a Shanghai-based analyst with Mysteel.com.

Iron ore inventories held at Chinese ports have dropped 3.7 percent to 96.35 million tonnes as of October 12, from a record 100.1 million tonnes set in July, according to data from Shanghai Steelhome.

An ''aggressive'' industry-wide destocking of iron ore had ended, Graeme Train, a Shanghai-based analyst with Macquarie Group, said last month in Dalian.

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