The price of ex-Brazil 65 percent iron sinter feed fines has declined to $234/mt, CFR China conditions, from $240/mt last week.
Sources mentioned that the decline reflects a downtrend in steel prices driven by weak steel demand in China during its rainy season.
The reference price of lumps is now $268/mt, and $298/mt for blast furnace grade pellets, CFR China conditions, against $274/mt and $304/mt, respectively, last week.
In the Brazilian domestic market, the prices are estimated at $201/mt for the high-grade ore, $235/mt for lumps and 265/mt for pellets, against $208/mt, $241/mt and $271/mt last week, respectively, ex-works, no taxes included.
The premium of the Brazilian high-grade ore over the Australian 62 percent iron contents is now 10.4 percent when considering the iron units of these ores, which reflect the demand for products that are processed with lower emissions in blast furnaces.
In May, Brazil exported 25.26 million mt of iron ore (pellets excluded) and 1.41 million mt of pellets, against respectively 24.32 million mt and 1.47 million mt in April.
The main destinations of the ore were Asia (20.41 million mt, of which 16.37 million mt to China), Europe (2.56 million mt) and the Middle East (1.85 million mt), while smaller volumes were shipped to Latin American countries.
The main destinations of the pellets were South Korea (336,200 mt), Trinidad and Tobago (240,300 mt), Argentina (176,300 mt) and the US (176,900 mt). Smaller volumes were shipped to China, Japan, France, Belgium and Algeria.