Indian export offers for high grade iron ore fines (with Fe content of 63.5 percent and higher) have edged down by $1/mt during the past week to the range of $62-63/mt CFR China as the market has come to a virtual standstill amid the absence of any significant transaction, traders said on Tuesday, February 17.
"The local market has seen a complete absence of buyers with traders representing Chinese steel mills staying away owing to the holiday ahead," said an Orissa-based miner-exporter.
"Moreover, with the market rife with talks of offers about to test the next bottom of $60/mt, buyers are in no mood to conclude fresh deals, particularly ahead of the holiday," he said.
"Neither traders nor miners have reported any transaction during the week and the offers have been merely indicative in the absence of any market activity," he added.
Sources said that, despite a mid-week spike in offers of $1-2/mt, prices have fallen back as most felt that the uptick was more in reaction to speculative positions in the futures market rather than due to any fundamental positives on the demand side.