The spot market for iron ore is sustaining its strength
backed by restocking activities from Chinese mills and tight supplies from
India.
“Demand is strong, especially for low-grade ore, which
brings down mills' costs dramatically. There's absolutely no weakening in the
market,” said a Shanghai-based iron ore trader.
The trader said he recently sold an iron ore cargo with 55
percent iron content at $134 to $135/MT, cost and freight, to a steel mill
located in China's Hebei province, up sharply from a previous deal of $126 to
$127/MT.
Whereas, offers for higher grade Fe 63.5/63 remained firm at
$189-190/MT and a cargo of Fe 60 % was sold at $170/MT CNF
“There's a lack of cargo availability from India.
There's hardly any low-grade cargo available and even for medium and
high-grade, supply is limited. Monsoon rains have virtually halted iron ore
shipments from India's west coast and eastern areas are suffering from
congested ports and other logistics problems ” said the another iron ore
trader.
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