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Iron ore rises despite steel industry losses
Seaborne iron ore prices extended gains on Tuesday even as China's steel industry swung into the red again in July.
The Kallanish KORE 62% Fe index and KORE 65% Fe index rose by $0.97/t and $0.88/t, respectively, to $101.51/dry metric tonne cfr Qingdao and $115.31/dmt cfr. The KORE 58% Fe index is $0.89/t higher at $88.39/dmt cfr.
On public platforms, 170,000 tonnes of PB Fines were sold at $100.6/t with a laycan of 29 September and 8 October. Meanwhile, 90,000t and 80,000t of Mac Fines were booked at $95.9/t and $96.8/t respectively for shipment on 16-25 September.
On the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE), the most-traded January 2025 iron ore contract surged by CNY 21/t ($2.94/t) to CNY 754.5/t ($105.9/t). On the Singapore Exchange, September 62% Fe futures and 65% Fe futures settled $1.25/t and $1.17/t higher, respectively, at $101.6/t and $114.42/t. The same contract for 58% Fe futures gained by $1.33/t to $88.68/t.
Scrap prices kept rising but billet values remained stable on Tuesday. 6mm+ heavy scrap delivered to mills in the Yangtze River Delta was CNY 19/t higher at CNY 2,382/t. Tangshan billet remained stable at CNY 2,970/t.
After two consecutive months of profitability, China's steel industry saw losses again in July as revenue fell by more than costs due to a plunge in market sales. The steel industry in China reported a CNY 2.45 billion loss in July, with average rebar price in the reporting month decreasing 4.4% month-on-month while domestic coke price rose 0.8%, according to the National Bureau of Statistics of China.
In addition, statistics from the China Iron & Steel Association show the purchase cost of imported iron ore in July was CNY 797.71/t, down 2.96% from June. However, the average purchase cost in the first seven months of this year was still 2.58% higher than the same period last year, suggesting that iron ore prices are more resilient than steel.
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Anonymous
Very good overview of the weekly steel market.
Anonymous