During the week ending December 18, prices of imported fine iron ore from India in China have mostly indicated minor downticks, with some prices for Australian iron ore moving sideways, while transaction activity for imported iron ore has been at decent levels. At the same time, traders' offers of domestic production iron ore in Tangshan and Liaoning Province have continued to follow a downtrend, while transaction activity for domestic iron ore is generally slack.
At present, Indian fine ores of 63.5 percent grade are offered at $79.9/mt at Qingdao port. Meanwhile, quotations of 66 percent iron ore concentrate in Tangshan stand at $84.8/mt and prices of the same material are at $66.9/mt in Beipiao, Liaoning, both excluding VAT. Prices of domestic production and imported iron ore in China can be viewed in the SteelOrbis price reports section.
During the given week, although transaction activity for imported iron ore has been at decent levels, imported iron ore prices have still indicated an overall declining trend. Currently, small steelmakers in Tangshan, Hebei Province which used to purchase domestic production iron ore have slowed down their production activities, and so their demand for domestic iron ore has decreased, exerting a negative impact on prices in the spot market. Meanwhile, amid continuing oversupply, steelmakers have been seeking to purchase iron ore at lower prices. It is thought that iron ore prices in China will likely follow a slight downtrend in the coming week.