Indian export offers for high grade iron ore fines (with Fe content of 63.5 percent and higher) have continued to soften amid negative sentiment during the past week, falling by $1-2/mt to the range of around $57-58/mt CFR China as buyers preferred to wait for the next bottom, traders said on Wednesday, March 25.
"There have been only offers but no deals in the markets. With a lot of talk of offers heading to a new bottom of $50/mt, buyers have been in no mood to conclude transactions in a hurry," an Orissa based miner-exporter said.
"News of Chinese steel mills cutting production have worsened sentiment. Local markets are discounting the possibility of any support for offers from renewed restocking of raw materials by Chinese steel mills," he added.
Market sources said that traders who aggregated volumes for outward shipments have virtually deserted the market as current offer levels have failed to offer them any positive margins from export transactions and only a few miner-exporters with existing pithead stocks have been active in making offers but few deals have been reported during the week.