During the week ending October 16, prices of imported
iron ore in
China have indicated a slight uptrend, while transaction activity for imported
iron ore has been been better than in the previous week. At the same time, traders' offers of domestic production
iron ore in Tangshan have remained stable, while offers of domestic production
iron ore in Liaoning Province have continued to edge down, with transaction activity for domestic
iron ore generally being slack.
At present, Indian fine ores of 63.5 percent grade are offered at $97.9/mt at Qingdao port. Meanwhile, quotations of 66 percent
iron ore concentrate in Tangshan stand at $101.1/mt and prices of the same material are at $83.2/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, in order to replenish their inventories, domestic steelmakers have increased their purchases of imported
iron ore. Meanwhile, imported
iron ore futures prices have indicated a rebound, exerting a positive impact on imported
iron ore prices in the spot market. Since steelmakers have not been interested in purchasing domestic production
iron ore, prices of ore in Tangshan have failed to move up further and sales prices of
iron ore in Liaoning have even softened. Currently, supplies of domestic
iron ore are still on the plentiful side, negatively affecting domestic ore prices. It is expected that
iron ore prices in the Chinese market will move sideways in the coming week.