Imported iron ore price may swing narrowly next week as pre-holiday stocking is about to end  

Iron ore price kept dipping this week. Owing to traditional lull demand, higher finished steel stocks and weak economic data in 2023, the iron ore overall market sentiment appeared bearish, shrugging off short-lived impact of rumors of additional issuance of trillions of government bonds. From the fundamentals side, underpinned by a rally in pig iron output and pre-holiday stockpiling, overall iron ore demand may pick up. In a word, iron ore market swung on a subdued footing this week. In terms of spot price at ports, the spot price of PB fines in Shandong was down 30 yuan/mt WoW.

Looking at next week, overall iron ore supply will change little. On the demand side, according to the SMM tracking situation of maintenance of BFs, demand will still inch up in the next three weeks. But meanwhile pre-holiday stockpiling may come to an end. In a word, overall iron ore demand is unlikely to increase significantly, which will provide limited support for ore price. Therefore, iron ore price may be dominated by news and macro effects. The overall market sentiment will be on the wait-and-see side amid little likelihood of strong stimulus policies. It is expected that iron ore price will be in a dilemma, or may continue to fluctuate narrowly.