At present, Indian fine ores of 63.5 percent grade are offered at $80.6/mt at Qingdao port. Meanwhile, quotations of 66 percent iron ore concentrate in Tangshan stand at $80.6/mt and prices of the same material are at $66.1/mt in Beipiao, Liaoning, both excluding VAT. Prices of domestic production and imported iron ore in China can be viewed in the SteelOrbis price reports section.
Import iron ore prices in China have indicated a rebound following the previous long-standing downtrend of prices. Meanwhile, iron ore futures prices at Dalian Commodity Exchange have seen significant rises, exerting a positive impact on import iron ore prices in the spot market. In order to build up inventories, domestic steelmakers have stepped up their inquiries, while actual transaction activity has also indicated some improvement.
Oversupply of iron ore still exists, while the significant declines previously seen in iron ore prices have caused some domestic iron ore producers to idle part of their production capacities, and overseas miners have also reduced their iron ore deliveries to China, providing a certain degree of support for iron ore prices. It is thought that import iron ore prices in China are unlikely to continue their rising trend in the coming week amid slack demand in the winter off-season.