Indian export offers of high grade iron ore fines (with Fe content of 63.5 percent and higher) have moved within a narrow range for most of the past week, marginally rising by $0.20/mt week on week to $67.80/mt CFR China, amid negligible trades and a weak market outlook, traders said on Friday, August 3.
“The market showed no direction during the past week with a marked negative undertone. With buyers expecting a downturn from current levels, even small-volume transactions dried up during the past week,” an Odisha-based miner-exporter said.
“Sentiments were also impacted by downward movement in futures contracts and buyers are refusing to take on increased risks by concluding transactions at current levels and with Chinese steel mills showing no appetite to restock raw materials,” the miner-exporter added.
Two other eastern India-based traders said that aggregating traders in the eastern region were saddled with large volumes of iron ore fines at port stockyards. They said that the traders representing Chinese steel mills have continued to show preference for high grade lumps and pellets, while aggregating traders are incurring high carrying costs of stocks of fines, fuelling the negative sentiment in the market.