Indian export offers for high grade
iron ore fines (with Fe content of 63.5 percent and higher) have inched up by $2/mt during the past week to $42-43/mt, but the upward movement has showed signs of weakening as restocking by Chinese steel mills has started to slacken, traders said on Friday, January 22.
"The market is very delicately poised and can go in either direction. For one, the upward momentum from sub-$40/mt levels has started to lose pace as buyers have been seen to be pulling out," an Odisha-based miner-exporter said.
"However, there are reports that ore supplies may tighten with at least one of the global majors closing down some mines. This has enabled local traders to book a higher number of transactions for low volumes during the past week as concerns of a possible shortage has gripped some traders representing Chinese steel mills," the miner-exporter said.
"Then again, the market activity is expected to become slack with the Chinese New Year ahead and Chinese steel mills are unlikely to continue to restock aggressively ahead of the holidays, and therefore it is difficult to predict the short-term trend," he added
However, market sources said that expectations of steel prices firming up have not materialized and in a low activity market local
iron ore fines prices are at best expected to move within a narrow range in the week ahead.