The price of ex-Brazil 65 percent iron sinter feed fines has reached $240/mt, CFR China conditions, against $224/mt late last week. It is the fourth consecutive daily price increase in the Chinese spot market, since $215/mt was achieved on May 26.
The increase reflects firm demand and a return to strong liquidity in China, attributed to announcements of lower restrictions for emissions in the Tangshan steelmaking hub. Reports indicate that five plants in Tangshan will have restrictions of emissions lowered from 50 percent to 30 percent, while other fifteen plants will have emission restrictions lowered from 30 percent to 20 percent.
The Brazilian high-grade ore has today a premium of 9.7 percent over the Australian 62 percent iron contents, when considering the iron units of these ores; this represents a decline from the 12 percent figure of last week, but still reflects the demand for products that are processed with lower emissions in blast furnaces.
Brazilian pellet export prices are estimated at $304/mt (compared to $287/mt last week), CFR China conditions, while lumps are estimated at $274/mt ($257/mt last week), under the same conditions.
In the Brazilian domestic market, the prices of such products are estimated at $208/mt for sinter feed fines of 65 percent iron, $241/mt for equivalent lumps and $271/mt for blast furnace grade pellets, all ex-works, no taxes included, against $190/mt, $224/mt and $254/mt, respectively, last week.