Iron ore prices are in a free fall in the Chinese import market as fading demand has been putting big pressure on suppliers and the outlook has worsened further due to crude steel production cuts.
Price for iron ore with Fe 62 percent content has dropped by $14.1/mt over a day to $179.55/mt CFR. This has resulted in a weekly drop of $20.75/mt over the week.
The level of ex-Brazil Fe 65 percent fines prices has come to $214.5/mt CFR, down by $13.5/mt over a day.
No deals have been reported at the trading platforms today, which has been signalling about visible demand fall. The outlook for the near future is bearish as the crude steel production cuts have already started in a number of provinces like Shandong and Jiangsu. Moreover, China reported the highest daily number of Covid-19 infections this week since January due to the outbreak in Nanjing city. This may worsen construction steel demand in the near future and put additional pressure on the market sentiment.
Iron ore futures at Dalian Commodity Exchange have dropped by RMB 91/mt ($14/mt) or 8.1 percent over a day to RMB 1,027/mt ($159/mt) on July 30, reflecting sharp worsening of moods.
This has happened even despite the recent announcement of the major miner Vale, that the production guidance for this year will be lowered from 350 million mt to 343 million mt.
$1 = RMB 6.4602