Iron ore prices have been fluctuating above $90/mt CFR on Wednesday, September 11, as iron ore arrivals have decreased and demand has stayed firm. But more pessimistic sentiments have started to appear in the market due to some weakening signs in the steel segments. Prices for Australian fines with 62 percent of Fe content have added $1.4/mt, reaching $94/mt CFR, while Brazilian fines prices with 65 percent Fe have increased by $1.5/mt to $101/mt CFR.
Trading activity in the seaborne iron ore market has been firm over the day with four deals for Australian Pilbara fines with 62 percent Fe content and Yandi fines 58 Fe content have been signed during the day on COREX platform. Prices in all of them have been based on October indexes. Moreover, arrivals of import iron ore to 26 Chinese ports have decreased by 3.2 million mt last week, the Reuters cited. This factors together with slightly higher iron ore futures have support iron ore spot prices.
Shagang Group has announced local longs prices increase by RMB 100/mt ($14/mt) for mid-September. But rebar futures at Shanghai Future exchange has inched down by RMB 9/mt ($1/mt) to RMB 3,476/mt on Wednesday, indicating weakening of sentiments. “The uptrend in the local rebar market will not last too long. The real estate is not good,” a Chinese trader said, adding that the most possible scenario for iron ore to stay close to the current level in the near future. However, some increase is still possible if Chinese customers keep restocking before National Day holidays on October 1-7.