Indian export offers for high grade iron ore fines (with Fe content of 63.5 percent and higher) have plunged by $4/mt over the past week to a range of around $71-72/mt CFR China, as the fundamental weakness in the market has persisted, traders said on Tuesday, November 18.
"Offers dived amid thin trading volumes indicating the weakness in fundamentals of the iron ore market. Most offers have been for very small volumes," an Orissa-based miner-exporter said.
"Having rapidly dropped below the $80/mt mark, now support for the $70/mt level is threatened. The markets are nervous now with a lot of talk of iron ore prices touching the $60/mt mark keeping most buyers on the sidelines," he said.
"With 30 percent export tax payable, current prices do not offer any margins to exporters and most are staying away from concluding transactions," he added.
Market sources have said that buying support is not expected to emerge within the next month or so since several steel mills in China have been facing a year-end liquidity crisis and are unlikely to restock aggressively even at current low price levels.