Spot iron ore prices remain at
11-month low on Friday with thin appetite from top buyer China, where steel
futures dropped for the consecutive day.
Offers for Indian fines remain at
the same level with Fe 63.5/63 quoted at $165/MT CNF CHINA.
Iron ore prices have lost around
$10/MT so far this week as lower steel prices and tighter credit in China.
Uncertainty in the global economy also convinced Chinese mills there was no
immediate need to restock on the steel-making raw material.
“We're still holding on to
some cargo because prices have gone down a lot since after the Chinese holiday,
and they continue to fall. But you can easily get cargo these days.”
The steep drop in iron ore spot
prices has prompted Chinese steel mills to seek either a postponement of
shipments or a renegotiation of fourth-quarter contracts, traders have said.
But BHP Billiton , the world's
No. 3 iron ore miner, said it has not had any shipment to China cancelled or
renegotiated in the last few weeks. It sold Newman fines at $163/MT via a
tender on Thursday, down from around $165 earlier in the week, traders said. It
also sold 58-grade Yandi fines at $141 a tonne, they said.
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