The situation in the Chinese market has failed to improve on Monday, February 26, and iron ore prices have dropped by almost $5/mt compared to the previous trading day, falling to the lowest level since late October. The main reasons for the downtrend are the same - the lack of improvement in demand and stable supply, while the market has also reacted to the rise in iron ore inventories seen last week.
Iron ore fines with 62 percent Fe content have lost $4.95/mt today to $116.2/mt CFR, while Brazilian iron ore with 65 percent Fe has dropped by $4.8/mt on February 26 to $128.7/mt CFR, SteelOrbis has learned.
Nine deals for a total of 169,500 mt of import iron ore have been concluded on February 26 at the Corex platform, including 90,000 mt of 62.3 percent Fe Newman fines transacted at $115.3/mt CFR for shipment during March 24-April 2. “Steel mills have faced higher losses and started to cut [steel] output after the [Lunar] New Year,” a trader said, commenting on the slowdown in demand and no expectations for improvement. Also, even though there have been rumors about a possible easing of supply from Australia due to weather conditions and from Brazil due to the train incident at Vale, there are still doubts that this can support prices much at the current level of demand.
In addition, port inventories of iron ore increased by 2.1 percent to 133.1 million mt last week, according to SteelHome data, which usually shows the supply-demand situation.
Falling iron ore prices, together with the drop in local coke prices, will put pressure on steel quotations this week.
As of Monday, billet prices in the local Chinese market have fallen by RMB 30/mt ($4/mt), while export quotations have dropped even more, by $12.5/mt on average to as low as $505-510/mt FOB. “It is true. Prices are at this level. Sellers are desperate to sell and are trying to play in the current bearish market,” a large Chinese trader said.