MMi Daily Iron Ore Report (November 17)

[SMM Steel] Market feedback indicates that currently, for September shipment of SAE1006 HRC, the CIF bid is $507/mt, with the shipping port being Jingtang Port and the destination country Pakistan.

Brazil's crude steel output fell 1.9% y-o-y to 13.4m tonnes in Jan-May 2026. Despite modest monthly recovery, apparent consumption dropped 4.1% amid a 17% import decline. In May, output rose 2.4% m-o-m and domestic sales edged up 1.3%, but apparent consumption fell 14.1% y-o-y due to imports (-55.4%) and exports (-35%) plunging. The data shows the steel industry remains under pressure from both weak domestic demand and shrinking foreign trade volumes.

The EU's revised steel safeguards took effect July 1, cutting annual duty-free import quotas to 18.35 million tonnes. South Korea's country-specific quota was reduced by 19.7% to 2.07 million tonnes. To offset the impact, Seoul plans to stimulate domestic steel demand by strengthening cooperation with shipbuilding, defense and renewable energy sectors, which is expected to generate over 510,000 tonnes of additional steel demand. Korea also intends to continue EU negotiations under the FTA framework while expanding into new export markets to reduce reliance on Europe. Under the new quota system, five countries including Turkey, India, Japan, South Korea and Ukraine secured around 2.74 million tonnes/year of duty-free allocations in category 1A (HRC), representing 53% of the total quota. The overall HRC quota was cut by 59%, with Turkey's quota falling about 60% while Japan's rose roughly 24%.