Indian export offers for high grade iron ore fines (with Fe content 63.5 percent and above) have come under renewed pressure during the past week, failing to remain above the $80/mt mark, softening by $2-3/mt to the range of $78-79/mt CFR China as buyers have retreated from the market, traders said on Wednesday, October 29.
“Weak fundamentals have again impacted the market and technical gains have been wiped off. While buying interest has continued to remain subdued, even exporters have been withdrawing offers as any offers below the $80/mt mark have not ensured sufficient margins,” an Orissa-based miner-exporter said.
“A combination of tight liquidity faced by Chinese steel mills and soft steel prices rule out any immediate restocking and hence transaction volumes from the Indian market have been at their lowest ebb,” he said.
According to another miner-exporter, the absence of any sustained restocking by Chinese mills has ruled out the possibility of offers consolidating at levels above $80/mt.
Sources said that market sentiments have also worsened during the week as the Indian Ministry of Mines has ruled out any intervention in lowering the export duty of 30 percent, stating that such decisions are left to the commerce and finance ministries.
Miners and traders who have been lobbying with the Ministry of Mines have been disappointed as continuous falling prices have made Indian ore shipments overseas uncompetitive vis-à-vis shipments from Australia and Brazil, the sources said.