As of November 18, inventory of iron ore at 25 major Chinese ports amounted to 79.479 million mt, indicating an increase of 207,700 mt or 2.68 percent week on week, as announced by China's Xinhua News Agency.
As of the same date, the Xinhua-China Iron Ore Price Index for imported iron ore with 62 percent iron content was at 137 points, up one point compared to one week earlier. Meanwhile, the Xinhua-China Iron Ore Price Index for imported iron ore with 58 percent iron content was at 125 points on the given date, also up one point week on week.
In the given week, relatively stable price movement prevailed in the iron ore market, while transaction activity was almost unchanged from the previous week. Early in the week in question, the import iron ore market showed slight declines, though traders were unwilling to sell at lower prices. Later in the week, with some large miners pushing up their prices, traders received support to keep their prices firm and so the market trended sideways. On the other hand, inquiries from steel mills declined somewhat due to shortages of funds as the end of the year draws closer.
Slack demand on the downstream side has resulted in insufficient support for the domestic finished steel markets to continue their upward trend, thereby resulting in less support for upticks in the iron ore market. At present, there is a lack of availability of some imported iron ore grades in the market, while traders have also been reluctant to sell at lower prices, and these factors have contributed to a lack of equilibrium between supply and demand in the market. With production costs of iron ore rising as the weather gets colder, traders are under some pressure to push up their prices. Overall, it is thought that the Chinese domestic iron ore market will just trend sideways in the near term.