Iron Ore Supply-Demand Imbalance Is Relatively Small, Prices Remain Stable [SMM Brief Comment]

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Today, DCE iron ore fluctuated upward throughout the day. The most-traded I2505 contract finally closed at 779, rising slightly by 1.17% for the day. Traders followed the market trend to sell, while steel mills remained cautious with fewer inquiries. The market trading atmosphere was sluggish today. In Shandong, the mainstream transaction prices of PB fines were around 775 yuan/mt, remaining stable compared to yesterday; in Tangshan, PB fines transaction prices were at 785-790 yuan/mt, also stable compared to yesterday. There was no macro news in the market today. From a fundamental perspective, SMM statistics showed that the operating rate of blast furnaces at 242 sampled steel mills was 85.37%, down 0.1 percentage points WoW. The daily pig iron production of sampled steel mills was 2.3446 million mt, down 3,000 mt WoW. This week, overall iron ore demand declined again. However, due to expectations of pre-holiday restocking, ore prices maintained a relatively stable trend.