China iron ore import prices remained steady on Friday, amid a lack of interest in large purchases among steel mills because of an uncertain price outlook after the New Year holiday. Offers of Indian ore fines with 63.5 percent iron content stood steady at $177-179 per tonne on Friday, CFR delivered to China, unchanged since the middle of this week, traders said.
A few offers inched up to as high as $180 per tonne CFR as overseas sellers were encouraged to raise offers in anticipation of strong demand from Chinese steel mills and tightening supply from India, the world's third-largest iron ore exporter. "Trading has been relatively weak late this week as buyers are waiting for a clearer price trend after the new year holiday," said an iron ore trader in eastern China.
Many steel mills still intend to buy more stocks for holiday consumption, while the tightening capital crunch has curbed big purchases for materials already sitting at ports. "Steel mills are facing a dilemma - they don't have much money to buy spot materials, but they also don't want to take the risk of importing materials at high prices, despite lower capital pressure in buying via letter of credit," said an iron ore trader in Shanghai.
Two major iron ore indexes stayed at seven-month highs, but moved in different directions on Thursday, reflecting mixed views on the market trend for the near future. The Metal Bulletin Iron Ore Index rose 62 cents to $168.59 per tonne on Thursday while the Steel Index 62 percent slipped slightly to $170.7 per tonne. The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index which tracks rates to ship dry commodities including iron ore, cement, grain, coal and fertiliser, fell to a five-month low of 1,795 points on Thursday as a slowdown in cargo business hurt sentiment.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.