- Futures prices edge down
- Limited trade witnessed
- Chinese buyers away amid CNY holidays
BigMint’s weekly Indian low-grade iron ore fines (Fe 57%) export index decreased by $3/tonne (t) w-o-w to $83/t FOB east coast on 8 February 2024. A deal of 55,000 t Fe 56/57% fines was heard at $87/t FOB India towards the end of last week.
The seaborne Indian low-grade fines market remained sluggish this week as the majority of participants were away for Lunar New Year holidays. No trading activity was witnessed during the week while sellers also kept their offers on hold.
A miner from the eastern region said: “We sold a cargo last week while this week no major inquiries were received for fines in the overseas market. China’s market is closing ahead of the holidays, while buyers from other regions also remained sidelined.”
According to a trader: “The demand for Indian iron ore fines and pellets remained dull from China as most of the steel mills are on maintenance shutdown while offers received from China iare not feasible for us. Market participants are waiting for buyers and are not in hurry to sell under these sluggish market sentiments.”
On the other hand, a few Chinese steel sources reported that portside offers in China for Indian iron ore fines (Fe57%) had remained stable compared to last week. Today’s offers were recorded at around RMB 830/t at ($117/t) Qingdao port, inclusive of all import taxes and port charges.
In the China market, since most players have entered the holidays, there were essentially no offers or deals. Major mills in China put their blast furnaces on maintenance shutdown as they were facing margin issues for finished steel amid higher raw material costs.
Price indicators:
- One deal was reported this week for fines Fe 57% from the East Coast but not taken into calculation. Thus, given 0% weightage. For detailed methodology Click here.
- BigMint received sixteen (16) indicative prices in the current publishing window and thirteen (13) were considered for price calculation as T2 inputs and given 100% weightage.
Market highlights:
- Drop in global iron ore prices: The benchmark Fe 62% fines index decreased by around $6/t w-o-w to $126/t CFR China on 7 February. Prices fell owing to muted trades as buyers’ side resisted buying amid the Lunar New Year holidays. Meanwhile, China’s portside prices remained largely unchanged, too, as buying interests seemed to have faded away. However, market participants expect prices to firm up post-holidays amid demand recovery expectations.
- DCE iron ore futures fall w-o-w: Iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) contract for May 2024 decreased by RMB 4.5/t ($1/t) to RMB 963.5/t ($135/t) on 8 February compared to last week. However, on a d-o-d basis, prices rose by RMB 19.5 ($3/t) as against RMB 944/t ($133/t).
- Iron ore port inventory in China increases w-o-w: Iron ore inventory at major Chinese ports rose by 1.65 mnt to 126.25 mnt on 6 February compared to the previous week, according to SteelHome data.
India’s iron ore export shipments were recorded at 1,133,364 t in the first week of February compared to 1,132,549 t in the last week of January, as per vessel line-up data maintained with SteelMint.
Outlook
The fines export market is expected to remain slow amid the lack of buyers in the overseas markets amid the Lunar holidays in China.