Indian export offers for high grade
iron ore fines (with Fe content of 63.5 percent and higher) have moved down by $1.70/mt over the past week to $64/mt CFR China, with activity close to standstill and the market expecting the soft trend to persist amid the negative outlook, traders said on Friday, April 28.
"Indian offers have registered week-on-week losses for four weeks now. Buyers are receiving inquiries but are staying away from concluding any transactions, fearing that the market has still not hit bottom," an Odisha-based miner exporter said.
"Marginal mid-week gains were wiped off as the fundamentals of finished steel prices have remained weak and Chinese steel mills are in no mood to restock," the miner-exporter added.
Market sources citing reports received from traders representing Chinese steel mills said that port stocks in China have exceeded the 100 million mt mark and mills prefer to use stocks rather than make overseas bookings.
This, the sources said, has sharply reduced the number of buyers in the Indian market.