A combination of increased iron ore prices in the Chinese spot market and increased ocean freight rates resulted in stable Brazilian iron ore prices this week for sinter feed fines, lumps and pellets.
Sinter feed fines of 65 percent iron content remain traded for export at $68/mt, lumps at $71/mt and blast furnace grade pellets at $113/mt, FOB conditions.
In the domestic market, the prices remain at $63/mt for sinter feed fines, $66/mt for lumps and $108/mt for pellets, ex-works, no taxes included.
In December, Brazilian exports of iron ore (pellets excluded) reached 32.187 million mt, 10.6 percent more than in November. The main destinations were Asia (27.093 million mt, of which 21.245 million mt to China), the EU (3.012 million mt), the Middle East (1.253 million mt), Turkey (414,600 mt) and Latin America (413,300 mt).
Pellet exports from Brazil reached 2.928 million mt in December, a 25 percent increase from November, destined to the EU (1.062 million mt), Africa (735,200 mt), Asia (457,400 mt) and the US (367,600 mt).
Currently, pellets of the blast furnace grade are reportedly commanding a premium of $45/mt over sinter feed fines, while the premium for the DRI grade product is $55/mt.