Having closed the previous week with a decline, prices of ex-Australia iron ore of 62 percent Fe content for delivery to China’s Qingdao port have moved up by $0.25/mt on Monday, May 29, compared to last Friday, starting the current week at $57.45-58.55/mt CFR China. As of May 22, inventory of iron ore at 33 major Chinese ports amounted to 116.63 million mt, up 1.96 million mt or 1.71 percent compared to the inventory level recorded on May 15, as announced by China's Xinhua News Agency.
Last week, despite the uptrend of Chinese semi-finished and finished steel prices, global iron ore prices declined by two percent, with this decrease mainly attributed to rising iron ore inventories at Chinese ports. However, as stated by National Australia Bank in a report by Business Insider, there is another reason for the downward movement in iron ore prices: “Speculators in Chinese commodity futures are back after a brief hiatus.”
This week, the global iron ore market will likely follow a stable trend until mid-week due to the Dragon Boat Festival which will end on Wednesday while after the middle of the week iron ore prices are expected to move down on a fluctuating trend amid the ongoing increase in iron ore inventories at Chinese ports.