Iron ore prices have been relatively stable today, Thursday, February 13, after two days of strong increases, as demand has weakened and expectations of a longer delay in resumption of normal steel demand in China have returned to the market. Prices for iron ore fines with 62 percent Fe content are still at $88/mt CFR, while fines with 65 percent Fe content are unchanged at $104.5/mt CFR.
There have been no deals reported at trading platforms today and buying activity at Chinese ports has slowed down as well. Steelmakers have been suffering from the disruption of traffic due to the coronavirus, resulting in increasing steel product inventories and hurting demand for iron ore. According to sources, major Chinese mills are buying raw materials to cover only urgent needs, while they are not ready to build up stocks, which, if the situation stays the same, will put pressure on iron ore prices.
Iron ore futures at Dalian Commodity Exchange have kept going up, adding another 1.3 percent today compared to February 12 to RMB 620.5/mt ($89/mt). The weaker sentiments which appeared today have been reflected in rebar futures prices at Shanghai Future Exchange, which have inched down by 0.26 percent compared to the previous trading day.