Indian export offers for high grade iron ore fines (with Fe content of 63.5 percent and higher) have moved down by $1.50/mt during the past week to $83.15/mt CFR China in reaction to the weakening of the futures market and the uncertainty prevalent among both buyers and sellers regarding the short-term trend, traders said on Friday, March 8.
“There have been mild mid-week signs of a rebound but these have been too weak and have been largely supported by speculation in futures rather than by active buying in the physical market. Towards the close of the week, offers have softened as futures prices failed to hold their ground,” an Odisha-based miner-exporter said.
“The market can go in either direction from the current levels. Buyers - traders representing Chinese steel mills - are waiting for offers to settle further, while local Indian sellers expecting that offers have touched a short-term bottom and will rebound next week,” the trader added.
According to two other traders, the lack of direction in the raw material market has been “surprising” considering that Chinese steel mills have been trying to push up finished steel prices, but have avoided aggressive restocking of raw materials at higher price levels.
There have been unconfirmed reports in the market that at least a few aggregating traders have offered discounts in the range of 2-5 percent to conclude transactions during the week, though volumes have been limited, the traders added.