Reflecting another sharp price increase in the Chinese spot market, Brazilian sinter feed fines of 65 percent iron contents are now traded for export at $185/mt, against $172/mt last week, CFR China conditions, dry basis.
Sources quoted different factors affecting prices, including increasing demand for sinter feed fines of specific grain size by steel producers, high gains in futures market in the Dalian Commodity Exchange and in the swap contracts in the Singapore Exchange, and fears by market players about the risks of undersupply by Vale and Australian miners.
Brazilian export offers for lumps and pellets are now quoted respectively at $210/mt and $238/mt, also CFR China conditions, dry basis.
In the Brazilian domestic market, sinter feed fines are quoted at $160/mt, lumps at $185/mt and pellets at $213/mt, ex-works, no taxes included.
In January, Brazil exported 28.00 million mt of iron ore (pellets excluded) and 995,000 mt of pellets, against respectively 31.89 million mt and 1.27 million mt in December. The decline of iron ore shipments reflects reduced shipments from both of Vale’s production areas: down 9.3 percent in the North and down 21 percent in the Southeast.
The main destinations for iron ore exports in January were Asia (24.14 million mt, of which 19.83 million mt to China), Europe (1.94 million mt) and the Middle East (1.73 million mt), while for pellets the main destinations were Argentina (265,300 mt), the US (228,300 mt), Egypt (163,600 mt) and China (107,700 mt).