Iron Ore Demand Stays Strong, While Market Transactions Fall Short

SHANGHAI, Feb 10 (SMM) - The most-traded DCE iron ore contract closed the day at 863.5 yuan/mt, up 0.76%. The traders were not quite interest in making shipments, and orders were negotiated separately. The steel mills were increasingly wait-and-see. Market transactions were muted as a whole. The PB fines were mostly traded between 868-876 yuan/mt in Shandong, flat from a day ago; and 875-879 yuan/mt in Tangshan, down 3 yuan/mt on a daily basis.

As of February 10, iron ore inventory across 35 ports in China totalled 136.09 million mt, up 780,000 mt from the previous week, but down 17.98 million mt YoY. The daily shipments from the 35 ports rose 423,000 mt WoW to 2.95 million mt. The main reason is that the market sentiment was slightly boosted by the rising demand for finished steel.

Generally, speaking, the supply was weak while the demand was relatively strong. However, as steel mills still suffered losses, the purchases of iron ore were not active.