Indian export offers for high grade
iron ore fines (with Fe content of 63.5 percent and higher) have slumped by $8/mt during the past week to around $83.80/mt CFR China amid high volatility and the slide in the futures market and in finished steel prices, traders said on Friday, March 24.
"The recovery in the previous week proved to be very short-lived. In fact, the entire gain of $7/mt in the previous week was wiped out during the past week, indicating the volatility in the market driven by speculative futures trading," an Odisha-based miner-exporter said.
"The high volatility is driving away buyers from the Indian market. Buyers representing the Chinese steel mills are quick to retreat at every rise in offer levels, anticipating that a decline in prices will follow. Physical exporters like us are unable to conclude any significant transactions," the miner-exporter added.
The traders said that a total $6/mt default during two consecutive trading days of the week had caught buyers who had concluded transactions earlier completely by surprise and several were reported to have cancelled bookings.