Lower iron ore prices in the Chinese spot market, coupled with slightly increased ocean freight rates, resulted in Brazilian iron ore prices declining by about $3/mt on a weekly basis.
The country’s sinter feed fines of 65 percent iron contents are now traded for export at $54/mt, lumps at $70/mt and blast furnace grade pellets at $99/mt, FOB conditions.
In the Brazilian domestic market, the prices are now $48/mt for sinter feed fines, $64/mt for lumps and $93/mt for blast furnace grade pellets, ex-works, no taxes included.
The premium associated to lumps, in relation to equivalent sinter feed fines, declined by $6/mt to $17/mt.
A source linked to a small miner in Brazil commented that the reduction of the lumps premium probably derives from the competition from pellets. “The premium for lumps was so high that steel producers decided to move to pellets to feed their blast furnaces,” he said.
Preliminary figures from the country’s customs authorities point to an increase of more than 5 percent in October iron ore exports, from the 32 million mt of combined iron ore and pellets exported in September.