Chinese Regulators May Tighten Supervision After Robust Iron Ore Price Gains

SHANGHAI, Jun 9 (SMM) – The most-traded DCE 2309 iron ore contract fluctuated little for most of today, but jumped towards the end of session, closing up 3.44% at 812 yuan/mt. Traders were more enthusiastic about selling. The wait-and-see sentiment among steel mill intensified. The overall transactions were sluggish. The transaction prices of PB fines in Shandong were mainly 840-848 yuan/mt, up 5-13 yuan from yesterday, while those in Tangshan were 870 yuan/mt, up 10 yuan/mt. As of June 9, iron ore inventories across 35 Chinese ports tracked by SMM totalled 122.58 million mt, a decrease of 1.08 million mt from a week ago, but up 580,000 mt year-on-year. The daily average shipments from the 35 ports increased 102,000 mt on a weekly basis to 2.91 million mt this week. Iron ore prices kept rising this week, which triggered speculative demand and boosted purchases at ports. According to SMM data, iron ore arrivals at Chinese ports decreased by 2.16% on a weekly basis this week. Despite growing shipments by overseas mines, massive port arrivals have not yet been monitored as it takes time for shipments to arrive. As some blast furnaces may be resumed in June, the output of pig iron is estimated to rise, supporting iron ore demand. Iron ore prices are still supported by fundamentals. However, considering that recent iron ore prices have risen too fast