Fundamentals and the macro front remained stable, with iron ore prices fluctuating rangebound [SMM Brief Review]

Today, the most-traded iron ore futures contract fluctuated rangebound. The most-traded contract I2601 finally closed at 763 yuan/mt, up 0.2% from the previous working day. Spot prices of mainstream imported ore were basically flat compared to the previous working day, with transaction prices for PB fines in the Shandong region at 768-775 yuan/mt, basically flat from yesterday's prices; transaction prices for PB fines in the Hebei region were at 780-785 yuan/mt, flat from yesterday's prices. Last week, SMM's global iron ore shipment total was 33.49 million mt, down about 3.9% WoW. According to SMM's blast furnace maintenance survey data, the hot metal output impact due to blast furnace maintenance this week was 1.1778 million mt, an increase of 11,900 mt WoW. The change in daily average pig iron production was relatively small. Support for spot iron ore prices remains relatively strong. On the macro policy side, it has temporarily entered a quiet period. In the short term, iron ore prices are expected to fluctuate rangebound.