During the week ending August 7, prices of imported iron ore in China have followed a sideways trend, while at the same time traders' offers of domestic production iron ore in Tangshan and Liaoning have also been stable. Transaction activity for both imported and domestic iron ore has remained sluggish.
At present, Indian fine ores of 63.5 percent grade are offered at $110/mt at Qingdao port. Meanwhile, quotations of 66 percent iron ore concentrate in Tangshan stand at $105.2/mt and prices of the same material are at $89/mt in Beipiao, both excluding VAT. Prices of domestic production and imported iron ore in China can be viewed in the SteelOrbis price reports section.
During the given week, although traders selling imported iron ore tried to increase their sales prices, the purchasing activity of steelmakers has remained slack and so price rises have not been accepted. Recently, prices of coke, scrap and semi-finished steel have been relatively stable, contributing to the stability of iron ore prices. Meanwhile, iron ore supplies from the international mining giants have been at decent levels and so iron ore inventory at China's ports has remained high, preventing iron ore prices from moving up. It is thought that iron ore prices in China will likely continue their stable trend in the coming week.