Indian export offers for high grade iron ore fines (with Fe content of 63.5 percent and higher) have edged up $2/mt during the past week to around $81/mt CFR China, even as volatility resurfaced in the market with offers failing to maintain a peak of $83/mt during the week, traders said on Friday, January 20.
“Volatility is back in the market. Offers have surged by $3/mt on one day of the week only to shed $2/mt the very next day. The size of the fluctuations is a concern for players in the physical markets like us,” an Odisha-based miner-exporter said.
“I would think that, in the short term, offers will remain under pressure and transaction volumes will dwindle as the Chinese New Year approaches towards the end of this month,” the trader added.
At least two traders opined that offers could dip below the $80/mt mark before the current month ends.
They said that physical offers would be impacted as speculative positions in the futures market will be unwound ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday.
In the Indian market, aggregating traders are also reducing their offer volumes, hoping that the forthcoming Indian national budget in February will meet miners’ demand for a lowering of the export tax on iron ore, market sources said.