Spot iron ore prices steadies at $65/dmt

04-December-2018

Prices of iron ore, a key raw material for steelmaking slipped about $3/dmt for the week as Chinese steel markets continued to be in red due to reduced demand and dropping prices. Despite of no official order to cut production, there was very little demand for iron ore in China as steel margins have declined.

Looking at the benchmark for seaborne spot iron ore prices, Platts assessed the 62% Fe IODEX & TSI Iron Ore Fines at $65.45/dmt CFR North China on Friday. Meanwhile, TSI 58% Fe Fines, 1.5% Al, CFR Qingdao port closed the week at $57.15/dmt.

In steel’s paper market, the most-traded January rebar contract at the Shanghai Futures Exchange shed 0.8 percent to 3,587 yuan a tonne. The market has given up 2.8 percent this week and has fallen over 13 percent in November.

However, iron ore contract at Dalian Commodity Exchange gained 1.7 percent to 482 yuan a tonne on Friday. The market has lost 5.6 percent this week, marking its biggest weekly fall since late March. For the month, iron ore has slid more than 10 percent. Coke gained 0.7 percent to 2,135 yuan a tonne and coking coal gave up 0.3 percent to 1,329.50 yuan a tonne.