Vale Courts Chinese Investors

SHANGHAI, Apr 18(SMM) - The domestic iron ore prices inched higher last week, except for a 50 yuan/mt drop in Tangshan.

On the supply side, a new round of air pollution warnings has been launched in Tangshan city of Hebei, and some beneficiation plants have stopped production.

The concentrate price index of domestic iron ore stood at 994.8 yuan/mt last week, up 7.4% from a week earlier. Domestic iron ore prices in the main regions rose 20-130 yuan/mt, mainly due to the following reasons. First, the steel mills have higher demand for iron ore after the National Day holiday. And the domestic ore output in some regions trended lower amid power rationing, torrential rain, transportation restrictions, but recovered slowly from the second half of last week. Meanwhile, the price increases of imported iron ore early last week boosted the domestic ore prices.

Offers of spot iron ore rose 5-10 yuan/mt on Monday May 14 as prices of futures continued to perform strongly

Metals Market Index (MMi) is pleased to send you its Daily Iron Ore Index Report, containing today's index prices, together with full specification details for MMi's indices and additional market info

A total of 73 vessels with 10.72 million mt of iron ore are expected to arrive at major Chinese ports during May 4-10, SMM learned.

Iron ore inventory at 35 Chinese ports amounted to 149.32 million mt as of Friday March 23, up 1.32 million mt from a week ago, SMM data showed.

China contributed to 58.86% of Vale’s iron ore sales in Q3.

China’s State Administration of Taxation has launched a nationwide crackdown following exposure of false steel scrap invoice in Anhui last week. 

Vale S.A. (Vale) iron ore production (including iron ore acquired from third parties) achieved a record for output in Q2 2017, the company said in an email to SMM.