During the week ending October 23, prices of imported iron ore in China have mostly indicated a slight downtrend, while transaction activity for imported iron ore has declined somewhat compared to the previous week, with activity for high Fe content iron ore remaining at decent levels, while activity for low Fe content iron ore has been at low levels. At the same time, traders' offers of domestic production iron ore in Tangshan have remained stable, while offers of domestic production iron ore in Liaoning Province have continued to move down, with transaction activity for domestic iron ore generally being slack.
At present, Indian fine ores of 63.5 percent grade are offered at $96.2/mt at Qingdao port. Meanwhile, quotations of 66 percent iron ore concentrate in Tangshan stand at $101.1/mt and prices of the same material are at $81.6/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, steelmakers' iron ore inventory levels have increased, causing a slowdown in their iron ore purchases, and resulting in some declines in prices of iron ore. Steelmakers have mainly been purchasing imported iron ore rather than domestic ore. Currently, transaction activity for high Fe content imported iron ore has been at decent levels, with prices of such ore being comparatively stable, while prices of low Fe content imported iron ore have indicated a slight downward movement. It is expected that imported iron ore prices in the Chinese market will indicate further declines in the coming week.