Iron ore prices over the week were stable in the Chinese spot market, while ocean freight rates were also stable, resulting in the same prices in FOB terms in Brazil.
Sinter feed fines of 65 percent iron contents remain traded for export from Brazil at $61/mt, the equivalent lumps at $82/mt and blast furnace grade pellets at $119/mt, FOB conditions.
In the Brazilian domestic market, for equivalent ores, the prices remain $55/mt for sinter feed fines, $76/mt for lumps and $113/mt for blast furnace grade pellets, ex-works, no taxes included.
In June, Brazil exported 32.85 million mt of iron ore (pellets excluded), roughly the same volume of May. The main destinations were Asia (25.95 million mt, of which 21.41 million mt to China) and the EU (3.89 million mt) while 1.4 million mt was shipped to the Middle East. Smaller tonnages were shipped to Turkey, Canada and Mexico.
Pellet exports in June reached 2.46 million mt, against 6.81 million mt in May, in a decline reflecting chiefly exports to Egypt reduced from 3.80 million mt in May to less than 200,000 mt in June. The main destinations were the EU (965,000 mt), Asia (600,000 mt), Africa (256,400 mt), the Middle East (200,000 mt) and South America (184,000 mt).
The premium of the Brazilian high-grade ore, measured by the value of the iron unit of the 65 percent grade as compared with the value of the 62 percent grade ore of Australia, has reached this week an all-time record of 37 percent. According to analysts, the premium reflects the search by steel producers for reduced production costs ascribed by the higher performance of the high-grade ores in blast furnaces.