As of March 21, prices of import iron ore for China have decreased on week-on-week basis, while transaction activity for import iron ore in the past week has been at low-to-medium levels. At the same time, traders’ offers of domestic production iron ore have been stable in Liaoning Province, though indicating slight declines in Tangshan, with overall transaction activity for domestic production ore at low levels.
At present, Indian fine ores of 63.5 percent grade are offered at $93.6/mt at Qingdao port. Meanwhile, quotations of 66 percent iron ore concentrate in Tangshan stand at $104/mt and prices of the same material are at $99/mt in Beipiao, Liaoning, both including VAT. Prices of domestic production and imported iron ore in China are presented in the following table.
The suspension of production at Brazilian miner Vale’s Timbopeba mine by local court order on March 15 exerted a positive impact on import iron ore prices at the beginning of the given week. However, later Vale has announced that its Brucutu mine had received approval for the resumption of production, which resulted in significant decreases in iron ore futures prices at Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) on March 20, also negatively affecting import iron ore prices in the spot market. Some iron ore traders have been willing to negotiate on their offer prices, while Chinese steelmakers have been maintaining a wait-and-see stance in order to gain a clearer picture of the market prospects. It is expected that import iron ore prices in the Chinese market will move on a soft trend in the coming week.
Imported iron ore prices
Product Name |
Name of Port |
IronContent % |
Place of origin |
Truck loaded price (RMB/mt) |
Price($/mt) |
Weekly Change (RMB/mt) |
Newman iron ore lump |
Qingdao |
63/63.5 |
Australia |
848-858 |
127-128 |
↓19 |
Brazil fines |
63,5 |
Brazil |
639-649 |
96-97 |
↓7 |
|
Yandi fines |
58 / 59 |
Australia |
555-565 |
83-85 |
↓5 |
|
PB fines |
61,5 |
Australia |
605-615 |
90-92 |
↓8 |
|
PB iron ore lump |
62 |
Australia |
838-848 |
125-127 |
↓7 |
|
Indian fine ore |
63,5 |
India |
605-615 |
90-92 |
↓18 |
|
Indian fine ore |
63 |
India |
590-600 |
88-90 |
↓13 |
|
Indian fine ore |
62 |
India |
575-585 |
86-87 |
↓8 |
|
Indian fine ore |
61 |
India |
550-560 |
82-84 |
↓13 |
|
Indian fine ore |
59 |
India |
525-535 |
78-80 |
↓5 |
The prices are deal prices in local market.
16 percent VAT is included in all prices and all prices are ex-warehouse.
Domestic iron ore prices in local Chinese market
Product |
Spec. |
Place of Origin |
Market price excluding tax (RMB/mt) |
Price ($/mt) |
Weekly Change (RMB/mt) |
Domesticiron oreconcentrate |
damp base (ironcontent: 66%) |
Tangshan |
597 |
89 |
↓3 |
damp base (ironcontent: 66%) |
Beipiao |
575 |
86 |
0 |
16 percent VAT is excluded in all prices and all prices are ex-warehouse.
$1 = 6.69 RMB