The price of Brazilian high-grade ore, 65 percent iron contents, has reached $153/mt, against $159/mt on January 11, CFR China conditions.
Similarly, the price of the Brazilian blast furnace grade pellets declined to $207/mt, from $213/mt previously, under the same conditions.
Sources mentioned that the decline does not indicate an interruption of generally stable trend for the product, as the seaborne iron ore market was expected to remain at low pace ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday and the Winter Olympics in Beijing starting in February.
Overall, a positive outlook for iron ore prices remains based on increased Chinese demand and remaining problems for the supply from Brazil.
The premium of the high-grade ore, in relation to the 62 percent iron Australian ore, remains at 18.8 percent, stable from last week and still reflecting a perspective by the market of a shortage of the high-grade Brazilian ores, pellets included, due to intense rains that remain halting operations at mines in Minas Gerais state, despite the announcement of some restarts of operations over the weekend.
In the Brazilian domestic market, the prices of iron ore and pellets are now respectively $128/mt and $182/mt, against previously $134/mt and $188/mt, ex-works, no taxes included.
Preliminary indications point to a reduction in January from the combined Brazilian exports of iron ore and pellets of 31.42 million mt in December.