Thursday, December 09,
Spot iron ore prices in China remained firm as supply tightened amid expectations that the settlement price for the first quarter of 2011 between Chinese steelmakers and top iron ore miners will rise.
Offers to sell Indian ore with 63.5 percent iron content stood at $172-173/MT, cost and freight delivered to China.
The supply of seaborne iron ore to Chinese steel mills remains tight, with steel mills looking to buy small tonnages already unloaded at ports.
“I’ve heard that major overseas iron ore miners intend to maintain supplies to China at low levels in January,” said a trader in south-central China.
The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index .BADI, which tracks rates to ship dry commodities, fell for a second session on Wednesday as slower iron ore sales to China in recent days acted as a drag on capesize rates.
Capesizes typically carry 150,000 tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal.
The Steel Index 62 percent iron ore benchmark firmed 30 cents to $165 per tonne on Wednesday, and Metal Bulletin’s iron ore index 62 percent benchmark was almost flat at $163.7 per tonne.
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