MMi iron ore port spot index report (17)

According to Hebei Daily, recently, Shanghai University and Changli County Dongwen Precise Machine Parts Co., Ltd. jointly completed the first development test of hydrogen-enriched smelting technology of blast furnace with pure hydrogen as blowing gas source in China.

Currently, the iron ore prices have been rising rapidly in contrary to the background that the supply and demand in the iron ore market has been stable and the port inventory has also been at a high level.

On February 18, the National Development and Reform Commission and other 11 central departments jointly issued a notice on a series of policies to promote stable growth of industrial economy.

The profits at steel mills increased, boosting the demand for iron ore. Besides, real estate credit policy may marginally loosen, boosting market sentiment and pushing up steel prices. Iron ore futures have risen for several days.  China's central bank, the People's Bank of China, will cut the reserve requirement ratio by 0.5 percentage point. Government also released the signal of “stabilising the real estate industry”. Iron ore prices surged 8.66% yesterday supported by multiple factors.

Lump premiums decline due to inventories at major Chinese ports rising. Additionally, demand has been steadily falling, putting further pressure on premiums.

Coronavirus strikes, causing chaos in the Chinese iron ore market, just as the population prepares to come back to work following the National Lunar New Year Holiday.

SMM data showed that iron ore stocks across 35 Chinese ports totalled 116.36 million mt as of February 7.

2019 dawned with the recent dam collapse in Brazil,shrinking supplies and post-holiday stockpiling conspiring to keep low-alumina premiums at high levels.

Iron ore DCE futures were limit down on the open, following the collapsing SGX futures market.

SMM data showed that iron ore stocks across 35 Chinese ports totalled 116.91 million mt as of December 20, up 3.58 million mt from a week ago.