Indian export offers for high grade iron ore fines (with Fe content of 63.5 percent and higher) have continued to show signs of weakness, edging down by $2/mt during the past week to around $74/mt CFR China amid scarce trading activity and uncertainties over finished steel prices, traders said on Friday, January 26.
“There is no discernible short-term trend in the market. While the bias of the market is bearish, the immediate trend will largely depend on restocking levels of Chinese steel mills ahead of the holiday in China,” an Odisha-based miner-exporter said.
“Although Indian export offers closed the week lower, for most part of the week offers tended to move in either direction indicating uncertainties over key drivers particularly finished steel prices,” the miner-exporter added.
According to two other traders, although offers did rebound after touching a weekly low at $74/mt, the weakness in the market was indicated by the fact that even marginal gains towards the end of the week failed to be sustained and offer levels fell back to the weekly low in the absence of any sustained buying.
The two traders said that most traders representing Chinese steel mills were seen to have received offers early in the week but did not respond subsequently, indicating that Chinese mills are not willing to stock up aggressively in view of the softening of billet prices and their disinclination to carry raw material stocks into the Chinese New Year holiday next month.