As of May 26, inventory of
iron ore at 33 major Chinese ports amounted to 114.82 million mt, up 1.95 million mt or 1.73 percent compared to the inventory level recorded on May 19, as announced by
China's Xinhua News Agency.
As of the same date, the Xinhua-
China Iron Ore Price Index for imported
iron ore with 62 percent iron content was at 98 points, down two points from one week earlier. Meanwhile, the Xinhua-
China Iron Ore Price Index for imported
iron ore with 58 percent iron content was at 84 points on the date in question, down three points week on week.
During the given week,
iron ore prices in
China have seen an overall downward movement, with prices of imported
iron ore declining below $100/mt, while transaction activity for imported
iron ore has seen some improvement, with a slack transaction performance observed for domestic
iron ore.
Iron ore futures at Dalian Commodity Exchange fell to a new low during the week in question. Market participants state that, when prices dropped below $100/mt, purchasing activities by downstream users picked up somewhat compared to before. However, the lack of any considerable improvement in demand will prevent imported
iron ore prices from indicating a significant rise.
Although Chinese domestic production of
iron ore will likely be curbed due to weak cost competitiveness with imported
iron ore, imported
iron ore supply is expected to remain on a strong growth trend, thereby resulting in high
iron ore supply in the Chinese market. Nevertheless, with imported
iron ore prices having already indicated large decreases, it is thought that the price trend for imported
iron ore will start to move sideways during the coming period.