Market sentiment is optimistic, and iron ore prices hold up well [SMM Comment]

Today, DCE iron ore futures held up well, with the most-traded contract rolling over to the I2601 contract, closing at 789, up 1.94% for the day. Traders were actively selling, while steel mills adopted a wait-and-see approach, with general purchase willingness. The market transaction atmosphere was also ordinary. In Shandong, the mainstream transaction prices of PB fines were around 775-780 yuan/mt, up 5-10 yuan/mt from last Friday. In Tangshan, the transaction prices of PB fines were around 790-795 yuan/mt, also up 5-10 yuan/mt from last Friday.
Last week, SMM's global iron ore shipments totaled 31.12 million mt, down slightly by 2.38 million mt MoM. However, China's iron ore port arrivals totaled 28.73 million mt, rebounding significantly by 6.17 million mt MoM, an increase of over 27%. As the impact of weather conditions eased, iron ore port arrivals increased significantly this week, but this was in line with market expectations, and the impact was limited. In the short term, the fundamentals of iron ore remain stable. However, frequent news of environmental protection-driven production restrictions in Hebei, mainly targeting sintering machines, has led to a relatively optimistic market sentiment. It is expected that in the short term, due to the impact of environmental protection-driven production restriction policies during the military parade, ore prices will maintain a fluctuating trend.