Indian export offers for high grade
iron ore fines (with Fe content of 63.5 percent and higher) have failed to sustain higher levels during the past week, ending the week unchanged on week-on-week basis at $53-54/mt CFR China as fresh downward pressures emerged based on reports of high inventory buildups, traders said on Friday, May 20.
"Offers slipped from a weekly high of $56-57/mt and dropped back to the opening levels of the week," an Odisha-based miner-exporter said.
"Traders representing Chinese steel mills have pulled out of the market as soon as offers peaked and as reports trickled in that inventory levels at Chinese ports have shot up," the miner-exporter said.
"The local physical market has also been impacted by the cooling down of the futures market and speculative positions that had driven offers upward but had failed to hold," he added.
Market sources said that downward pressures are expected to increase on the back of the unwinding of futures positions, together with rising inventories.
Under these circumstances, several buyers have indicated that fresh bookings are unlikely to surface unless offers hit a new bottom of around $50/mt.