As SteelOrbis reported yesterday, October 9, after the week-long holiday in China last week, iron ore quotations had started to move up. The prices in question have also registered upticks as of today, October 10. Steel mills and traders in China have accelerated their iron ore purchases and started to replenish their stocks as soon as they returned to the market.
Two months ago, Chinese mills and traders started to stay away from the market in order to erode their inventories, and so iron ore prices reached their lowest levels of the last three years in early September. For now, however, the downward price trend in the market seems to have been replaced by an upward trend, though some market players consider the current price levels to be on the high side.
As of today, October 10, the price of Indian fines with 63-63.5 percent iron content has increased by $6/mt since yesterday to $118-120/mt CFR, compared to approximately $108/mt CFR on September 28 just before the National Day holiday (October 1-7) in China. The changes in prices have indicated an increase of $11/mt as compared to the pre-holiday period.