Iron ore prices in the Chinese spot market have increased and have exceeded the $100/mt mark for the first time since the middle of September, as the supportive monetary policy announced by the Chinese government recently has warmed sentiment and sales have also posted some gradual improvement.
Iron ore fines with 62 percent are priced at $101.35/mt CFR today, November 29, up by $2.45/mt from the previous day. Brazilian 65 percent Fe fines prices have added $2.6/mt from yesterday to $114.4/mt CFR.
A deal for 170,000 mt of Pilbara fines 62 percent Fe has been done at a trading platform at $101.6/mt CFR for shipment during December 29-January 7. Also, 80,000 mt of Pilbara lumps have been traded at the January index with a lump premium of $0.1600. In addition, a contract for 80,000 mt of Jimblebar fines has been signed at the January index -$5.5/mt.
As SteelOrbis reported yesterday, the People’s Bank of China (PBC) has said it will cut the required reserve ratio (RRR) for financial institutions by 0.25 percentage points from December 5. This move will release total long-term funds of RMB 500 billion ($69.8 billion). The announcement has provided support for sentiment in the steel market in China, even though the overall outlook for December-January in terms of steel demand is bad.
Iron ore futures at the Dalian Commodity Exchange have risen by almost two percent today to RMB 770.5/mt.