BEIJING: Iron ore prices in China, the world's biggest market, inched up on Friday as customers sought to replenish stockpiles, but traders ruled out big purchases ahead of the lunar new year holiday later this month.
Offer prices for 61.5 percent Pilbara fines rose $1 to $139-141 per tonne including cost and freight on Friday, industry consultancy Umetal said, and they have now increased $3 since markets reopened on Wednesday.
The major indexes have also made gains, and Platts' 62 percent index ended at $141.5 per tonne on Thursday, up 1.8 percent from the previous close.
But Chinese traders are refusing to get carried away.
"Iron ore prices are likely to fluctuate within a limited range before the lunar new year and I don't expect steel mills will return to the market for restocking after that," said an iron ore trader in Shanghai.
"Small traders have cleared their inventories and are not planning to hold any inventories until they get a clear picture of the market after the holiday."
Big deliveries are still arriving, with a 250,000 deadweight tonne shipment of Brazilian ore arriving in the eastern port of Rizhao on Wednesday, according to Umetal.
Mining giants have shrugged off global economic problems and banked on resilient demand from China's massive steel sector, by far the biggest in the world.
China Iron and Steel Association chairman Zhu Jimin told delegates during an annual meeting on Thursday that apparent crude steel demand was expected to grow another 4 percent to 700 million tonnes in 2012.
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