Indian export offers for high grade iron ore fines (with Fe content of 63.5 percent and higher) have overcome mid-week dips to increase by $1/mt week on week to $80/mt, with the market outlook remaining resilient even though the upward trend of prices has slackened, traders said on Friday, August 25.
“Although the upward movement has slowed down during the past week, downside risks are perceived to be limited, resulting in sustained buying by traders representing Chinese steel mills,” an Odisha-based miner-exporter said.
Two other traders said that the mid-week dip in the market was in response to the unwinding of futures contracts and this too will be overcome given the restocking by Chinese steel mills.
Much of the market talk is now focused on how soon the $80/mt mark will be surpassed, reflecting the optimism among Indian exporters, the traders said.
According to another section of the market sources, now that the $80/mt mark has been reached, Indian offers may remain range-bound in the short term as buyers will become cautious about concluding transactions for large volumes at current levels and are expected to prefer to wait to see if these higher levels are sustainable.