Global iron ore prices are assessed at USD 55.1/MT, CFR China as on 20 Jul’16. Trade activities were tepid as Chinese steel market continued to weaken.
Flood in Northern China has kept many Chinese steel mills away from buying iron ore. In addition, rising steel inventories are putting pressure on steel prices because of which steel prices are moving down. This has put pressure on prices of iron ore as well.
Today, limited trade activities was seen for seaborne iron ore at index prices of Fe 62% Australian fines at premium of USD 1.5-2/MT. Buyers were waiting for the prices to fall further before procuring the raw material.
Mills were seen buying iron ore hand-to-mouth as they could not increase inventories due to tighter cash flows. Alongside, Chinese port stock at major ports was still high, recorded at 105 MnT as on 15 Jul’16.
Spot steel prices moved down
Spot steel market is getting weaker day-by-day. Spot rebar prices in Beijing were down by RMB 45/MT, whereas spot billet prices in Tangshan were down by RMB 20/MT.
Chinese domestic billet prices are assessed at RMB 2,000/MT (USD 307/MT), down by RMB 20/MT (USD 3/MT) today. On similar lines, Shanghai domestic rebar prices are assessed at RMB 2,220/MT (USD 341/MT). In addition, spot rebar prices in Beijing was assessed at RMB 2,360/MT ( 363/MT), down by RMB 90/MT (USD 13.8/MT) in a day time.
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