Spot iron ore prices in China remain
mostly unchanged on the first trading day of 2012, with buyers and sellers
unable to find a reason to rush back from a two-day New Year break.
Offers for Indian fines Fe 63.5% stays
at $144/MT CFR China. The offer price of 61.5 percent Pilbara fines,
including cost and freight, also stood in the $136-139 per tonne range on
Wednesday, unchanged from the last trading day of 2011.
The most traded steel rebar
contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange ended Wednesday morning at 4,213 yuan
per tonne, up just 3 yuan per tonne from the previous session.
Activity normally slows ahead of
China's lunar New Year, and many traders have expressed hope that the market
will improve when the week-long holiday ends on Jan. 30.
“It seems everyone is
waiting for some signal that things are going to get meaningfully better but
the government has been very slow to send a very positive signal,” said an
analyst.
“Moreover the export duty
hike in India is likely to accelerate the trend in declining Indian exports and
Australia and other miners will be the beneficiaries,” he added.
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