Steelmaking raw materials prices were negatively affected by the sudden downturn in Chinese futures prices on Tuesday. Both elements remained less volatile than steel however, and iron ore is still clinging on above $90/tonne.

The Kallanish index for 62% Fe Australian fines dipped $0.79/t to $91.06/dry metric ton cfr Qingdao. On the Dalian Commodity Exchange, May iron ore settled at CNY 705.5/t ($102.64/t), down CNY 5/t, while on the Singapore Exchange March 62% Fe futures settled down $2.22/t at $86.71/t.

75,000t of hard coking coal traded on globalCOAL on Tuesday at $158.50/t fob Australia for April shipment. That compared to the previous deal at $169/t on 6 February. Coking coal, after exploding higher in late 2016, has had a weaker start to the year than iron ore. It has still been pushed up and down in daily fluctuation by the Chinese steel market however. In Dalian, May coking coal futures settled down CNY 12.5/t on Tuesday at CNY 1,259.5/t.

China’s iron ore imports appear to be firm, with Reuters recording 88.78 million deadweight tonnes of iron ore cargo entering Chinese ports in February. At a daily 3.17mt, that was another increase from January’s 2.97m tonnes/day average, it notes. Little wonder then that iron ore port stocks have topped 130mt.