MMi Daily Iron Ore Report (August 19)

According to data tracked by SMM, 73 ships arrived at domestic main ports from August 23 to August 29. Arrivals of cargoes are estimated to stand at 12.03 million mt, down 1.23 million mt from the previous week, and a decrease of 1.55 million mt from the same period last year.

DCE iron ore futures continued to rise slightly in a day, some traders up-regulined the quotation by around 30yuan/mt over last Friday. Steel mills bought on their demands, traders tended to sell positively today.

As of August 27, iron ore inventories across 35 ports tracked by SMM totalled 121.46 million mt, up 1.12 million mt from a week ago and 14.18 million mt from a year ago. Daily average deliveries from the 35 ports increased 26,000 mt on a weekly basis to 2.70 million mt last week. Prices of imported ore stopped falling and stabilised. period, while steel mills bought on their demand.

Iron ore physical port stock prices remained flat when DCE iron ore futures market continued vulnerable tendency. Traders performed to be firm than last week and some refused to offer further concessions on the prices. Some mills conducted on-demands procurements and total transactions remained insipid. PBF in Shandong market was closed at 1000-1010yuan/mt, with price decline of 8-15yuan/mt, and that in Tangshan market dropped by 7-12yuan/mt to 998yuan/mt.

DCE iron ore futures market headed for bounce and quotations in the physical port stock market remained flat over last Friday. Traders showed little intentions to offer further concessions on prices, and PBF was closed at 1125yuan/mt in Shandong market, keeping flat over last Friday. Some steel mills in Jiangsu started conducting maintenance and pig iron production is going to decrease further.

As crude steel production cuts policy from Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong, Hunan and Shanxi provinces, etc. have been successively announced, market players’ expectations of production cuts increased.

As of July 16, iron ore inventories across 35 ports tracked by SMM totalled 117.45 million mt, up 710,000 mt from a week ago and 12.25 million mt from a year ago. Daily average deliveries from the 35 ports dropped 97,000 mt on a weekly basis to 2.53 million mt this week as crude steel output cut policy constrained steel mill purchase.

Due to the continuous strengthening expectations of crude steel reduction, DCE iron ore futures has been performing weakly throughout the day; The physical port in the morning has decreased by 5yuan/mt over yesterday. Some traders tend to expand the bargain space to make a successful deal. PBF at Shandong port dealt 1480-1500yuan/mt, down 25-35yuan/mt from yesterday.

As of July 2, iron ore inventories across 35 ports tracked by SMM totalled 115.13 million mt, up 870,000 mt from a week ago and 13.71 million mt from a year ago. Daily average deliveries from the 35 ports decreased 328,000 mt on a weekly basis to 2.39 million mt last week, the lowest since 2020.