Lunar New Year break holds iron ore and coking coal prices

Exclusive

30 January 2017

Lunar New Year holidays in China have put breaks on iron ore and coking coal trade. Inventories are relatively good with the mills and traders allowing the prices to prevail at the closing price levels of Friday evening at $83.40 per tonne for iron ore 62% Fe fines and $178 per tonne for premium coking coal CFR China, respectively.

Weekend trades were very thin as port cargoes of both iron ore and coking coal were high. Iron ore port inventory at major Chinese ports is registered at over 119 million tonnes on Friday evening and it is the major for the buyers to remain out of the market. Similar situation is in the coal market as spot cargoes are in abundance.

Two speculations which picked up last week in the market have also cooled down. First, where there was news of China again reinstating restrictions on coking coal mining and second, disruptions in iron ore supplies due to cyclones in Australia; both have proved to cause very little impact on the trade.

A bearish sentiment is slowly clouding both coking coal and iron ore markets, though it is too early to indicate the softness it could bring into the prices.

Prices of HRC, Rebar and billets in China have also shown no movement in the last week.