As of November 17, open positions of non-member futures company will be limited within 500 lots on contracts of I2401, I2402, I2403, I2404 and I2405, declining from the previous 1,000 lots, as announced by the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE), while on other contracts open positions of the companies will not exceed 2,000 lots. The previous limitation of trade volumes was made by the DCE on November 7, but it did not have a very big impact on pricing.
At the same time, the margin level for speculative trading on iron ore futures contracts will be adjusted from 13 percent to 15 percent as of November 20, aiming to ease speculation in the iron ore futures market.
Recently, import spot iron ore prices for 62 percent Fe content have increased, to $131.85/mt CFR on November 15, rising from $125.8/mt CFR recorded on November 1, while increasing from $120.1/mt CFR on October 16.
Moreover, the Price Division of China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has sent staff to the DCE, to jointly study the strengthening of supervision of the iron ore market.