Indian export offers for high grade iron ore fines (with Fe content of 63.5 percent and higher) have edged down by $1/mt during the past week to $54-55/mt CFR China, with higher levels being resisted by buyers, traders said on Friday, July 8.
“The week’s high of $56/mt failed to be sustained in the face of retreating buyers. The short-lived rally was driven largely by the futures market and fundamentals of the physical market came to the fore with local offers weakening,” an Odisha-based miner-exporter said.
“While there is not pessimism in the market, there are no fundamental key drivers either which would enable higher levels to be sustained,” the miner-exporter said.
“The number of inquiries has fallen steadily over the past week indicating that buyers are still not willing to conclude transactions in anticipation of a correction from current levels,” he added.
However, market sources said that several aggregating traders, particularly those based in Odisha, have been successful in liquidating their stocks ahead of the monsoon rains and at least two traders said that a few transactions have been concluded with volume discounts of $1-2/mt on current offer levels.