Iron Ore Faces Ups and Downs, Maintains Sideways Movement in Short Term [SMM Brief Comment]

Today, DCE iron ore futures continued to hold up well, with the most-traded contract I2509 touching 708 during the session before weakening slightly and closing at 709, up 0.93% for the day. Traders showed good willingness to sell. Steel mills largely completed their weekly procurement, with only some purchasing as needed today. The market trading atmosphere was average. In the Shandong region, the mainstream transaction prices of PB fines were around 710-715 yuan/mt, up 0-5 yuan/mt from yesterday. In the Tangshan region, the transaction prices of PB fines were around 720-723 yuan/mt, up 0-3 yuan/mt from yesterday.

From the SMM 35-port inventory data, port arrivals declined slightly this week due to weather impacts. However, downstream demand improved MoM, with steel mills showing increased production and procurement enthusiasm, driving a slight increase in port pick-up volume. As a result, port inventory maintained destocking, providing some support to ore prices. Looking ahead to next week, although iron ore fundamentals offer strong support, amid the industry off-season and high production levels, there are still expectations of negative feedback. Therefore, it is expected that iron ore prices will face upward pressure but also have downward support, maintaining a sideways movement.

》Subscribe to view historical spot prices of SMM metals