The price of Brazilian iron ore with a 65 percent iron content is now $125/mt, CFR China, compared with $128/mt a week earlier, market insiders told SteelOrbis.
Sources said prices slipped versus week ago levels, as a result of China's stricter plan to curb excess capacity in its domestic steel industry, which has stunted demand growth for raw materials, although robust short-term consumption has limited the decline.
Under the new plan, at least 1.5 mt of “old” steel making capacity needs to be eliminated for every ton of “new” capacity able to be built going forward.
In the weekly markets, blast furnace grade pellets are exported at $143/mt, against $146/mt previously, showing the same premium over same-grade sinter feed fines.
The premium for Brazilian high-grade ore containing 65 percent iron, relative to Australian ore with 62 percent iron, declined slightly to 7.9 percent from a previous 8.3 percent level, when considering the iron units, still reflecting high demand for high grade ores, insiders said.
In the Brazilian domestic market, reference prices are now $86/mt for the ore and $104/mt for pellets, against $90/mt and $108/mt previously, on an ex-works basis, no taxes included. The declines also reflect elevated Brazil-China freight rates, as the domestic price is based on FOB conditions, having CFR China as the benchmark.
According to ship brokers Banchero Costa, the Tubarão-Qingdao route, the reference freight rate for Brazil-China iron ore shipments, stands today at $35.51/mt, against $35.05/mt a week earlier, the highest in recent years, and 92.9 percent above the same period in 2025, reflecting higher bunker oil prices resulting from the unresolved Middle East conflict, they said.
