On May 8, iron
ore prices have risen again in China driven by better demand in the producers’
market as well as stocks at Chinese ports that plunged to the 17-month
low.
Australian 62% Fe fines are quoted at
$61-62/t CFR, by $2-3/t up day-on-day and $6/t up week-on-week. “The market has
progressed further. The majority of players have become more optimistic in
their next-week forecasts as well,” a trader commented to Metal Expert. Buyers
keep restocking on decreasing port inventories. Stocks at 41 ports of China
have dropped 5% over a week to 89.91 million t. The decline was mostly driven
by lower supplies from Australia. With inventories staying above 100 million t
last year, this is the first decline below 90 million t over the past 17
months, MySteel reports.
The futures market, which recently
had strong influence on spot prices, has shown an upturn as well. Iron ore
quotes on the Dalian Commodity Exchange have increased RMB 3/t to RMB 437/t.
“Prices may be fixed next week until
buyers book required quantities,” a market player said. Also, situation in the
steel product segment is not good enough for iron ore tags to rise further, and
many participants say this is the key restraining factor.
ANZ bank has downgraded the 2015
forecast by $1/t to $56/t CFR. It expects prices to move down to $55/t CFR in
2016 and to reach $60/t CFR in 2017.
Metalexpert.com