During the week ending December 18, prices of imported fine
iron ore from India in
China have mostly indicated minor downticks, with some prices for Australian
iron ore moving sideways, while transaction activity for imported
iron ore has been at decent levels. At the same time, traders' offers of domestic production
iron ore in Tangshan and Liaoning Province have continued to follow a downtrend, while transaction activity for domestic
iron ore is generally slack.
At present, Indian fine ores of 63.5 percent grade are offered at $79.9/mt at Qingdao port. Meanwhile, quotations of 66 percent
iron ore concentrate in Tangshan stand at $84.8/mt and prices of the same material are at $66.9/mt in Beipiao, Liaoning, both excluding VAT. Prices of
domestic production and
imported iron ore in
China can be viewed in the SteelOrbis price reports section.
During the given week, although transaction activity for imported
iron ore has been at decent levels, imported
iron ore prices have still indicated an overall declining trend. Currently, small steelmakers in Tangshan, Hebei Province which used to purchase domestic production
iron ore have slowed down their production activities, and so their demand for domestic
iron ore has decreased, exerting a negative impact on prices in the spot market. Meanwhile, amid continuing oversupply, steelmakers have been seeking to purchase
iron ore at lower prices. It is thought that
iron ore prices in
China will likely follow a slight downtrend in the coming week.