Iron ore up 1% on week closing, dips 5% on w-o-w basis

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26 December 2016

Iron ore prices are moving uphill gradually unlike coking coal. Iron ore seen rising on week closing by almost 1% to $78.75 per tonne compared to last week closing at $81.60 per tonne.

The fluctuation in iron ore has reduced and the w-o-w (Week on Week) movement is more softer now compared to a month earlier.

Port inventories are in the range of 104-106 million tons in China which are compelling some of the buyers and traders to look for imports. Deals are still being negotiated in the market in the range of $80-81 per tonne which show that iron ore still has capacity to go up in the next few weeks.

In the current market in China, the steel prices however are unchanged. HRC in China on FOB basis is offered at $502 per tonne and rebar at $432 per tonne.  Turkish scrap was also unchanged at $290 per tonne FOB, HMS 1&2 (80:20).

Form one month from now, China will go for a week long holidays so buying may be good before that and traders may take small positions both before and after holidays. Australia’s cyclone season is also supporting the traders interest and a month ahead the spot iron ore prices could be seen swinging in the current range.