Iron ore has been unpredictable
in 2021 and it would be a brave person to make a hard and fast call on where it
will end up in 2022.
In fact, with the whims of the
Chinese Communist Party and vagaries of its economy one of the major factors in
the outcome, it would be a foolish person to play this particular game of pin
the tail on the donkey and claim victory before pulling off the blindfold.
In the past week we’ve seen, as
has been the case often this year, a string of contradictory signals for iron
ore prices.
Evergrande and Kaisa’s defaults –
red light. China relaxing lending restrictions –
green. Port stocks rising to near record levels – red. Producers in Australia
and Brazil falling short on supply – green.
Our big banks have turned bearish
on iron ore despite a recent run that saw benchmark 62% fines rise from a 12
month low of US$87.27/t on November 19 to US$114.20/t on Monday according to
Fastmarkets MB.
Those moves have seen major iron
ore stocks go on a mini-run. BHP
(ASX:BHP) is up 10.2% over the past month to $41.28, Fortescue (ASX:FMG) has
climbed 17.31% to $18.70, Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) is
up 6.82% to $98.10 and MinRes (ASX:MIN),
which is also exposed to lithium, is 20.01% up at $49.41.
ANZ and Westpac were the latest
to update their 2022 forecasts, with Westpac predicting iron ore will trade at
US$75/t by the end of 2022 (down from previous estimates of US$82/t), a
potential multi-billion dollar hit to the WA and Australian budgets.
“High prices are often a cure of
high prices as they spur on production and reductions in demand, even more so
when technological changes increase demand elasticity,” Westpac senior
economist Justin Smirk said.
“Iron ore is set to continue its
drift down to US$75/t by end 2022 while the weather induced shocks to
Australian coal exports will be short lived with coal prices set to fall
between 24% and 33%.”
Will
the Beijing Olympics be the stop gap for falling steel production?
Many analysts view the Beijing Olympics
in February as a key turning point for the steel market.
In the first half of 2021 Chinese
steel producers making super high margins produced almost 600Mt of crude steel,
driving iron ore to record prices above US$230/t in May.
China put the clamps on steel
production on environmental grounds, both for its broader climate reduction
aims and to beautify the Beijing skyline before the world’s eyes turn to the
capital for the Olympic Games.
By October iron ore miners were
staring nervously at a price cliff as steel production had sunk to its lowest
level in 3.5 years and November’s official numbers could be even worse.
MySteel reported this week that
in the first 10 days of December, mills it tracks delivered just 2.36 million
tonnes per day, the lowest since the consultancy’s survey began in January
2018.
But there is broader positivity
in the market with last week’s Evergrande collapse barely registering for
traders despite the property market’s ~30% share of downstream steel demand.
Futures have consistently traded
up in recent weeks on reports of higher steel profit margins and proposed
measures to accelerate the pace of Chinese economic growth from its political
leaders.
What those traders are betting on
is what the market will look like in 2022.
Fitch Ratings thinks production
will fall next year on an annual basis, but still predicts China will produce
around a billion tonnes of steel. If it does it would be only the third time
that has happened after 2020 and (we assume) 2021. That still makes for a
strong market in the near term.
Fitch thinks production could be
30Mt lower than normal in the first quarter due to the Olympics. One important
question is whether that will be the turning point for steel restrictions so
many in the iron ore business hope.
ANZ thinks iron ore will average
US$110/t in the March quarter before dropping to US$90/t in June, US$87/t in
September and US$85/t by the end of 2022, falling again to US$80/t in 2023.
Their economists Daniel Hynes and
Soni Kumari say the Beijing Olympics may not be the light at the end of tunnel
some hope for and see demand weakening amid constraints on steel output.
“We don’t expect the
Olympic-induced restrictions to completely give way once again to unbridled
growth,” they wrote.
“With China targeting peak
emissions by 2030, curbs on the steel sector are seen as the easiest way of
reaching that goal.
“The industry singularly accounts
for nearly 46% of total industrial emissions and 13% of total carbon emissions.
“The 14th Five-Year Plan
(2021-2025) included measures to curb emissions and make the sector more energy
efficient. Following the edict to limit to crude steel production of 1,000Mt in
2021, we expect pressure to contain output will remain in 2022.”
On the other hand, Hynes and
Kumari see China’s iron ore market moving back into a 30Mt deficit in December,
saying “supply constraints combined with a stabilisation in China’s property
sector should limit the downside.”
Pilbara
majors, Vale see output slide
On those supply constraints, the
past week saw challenges for both Australian and Brazilian iron ore producers.
Data collated by DBX Commodities
showed from December 6-12 Australia’s iron ore loads fell 11% to 17.05Mt, with
Brazilian loadings sliding 41% to 4.54Mt.
Efforts to ramp up supply amongst
the major miners have proven relatively unsuccessful this year.
Westpac’s Smirk said this could
keep a demand base to support iron ore prices, although he pointed to high port
inventories in China as an issue for the industry.
“You could put together a
stronger argument for iron ore based on demand finding a base, PBoC stimulus
backing up the administration’s call for an expansion of domestic demand
including “pushing forward social housing construction”,” he said.
“In addition, ore supply has been
trimmed with Vale, Rio, Anglo (American) and Mineral Resources all reducing
guidance in recent weeks.
“However, we feel it is to too
early to call a base with port inventories building rapidly and prices holding
above cost.
While we think most of the price
correction has already occurred there is still significant downside risk before
there is meaningful cost support/supply discipline from the majors.
“The iron ore port inventories
build through recent weeks is a bearish signal and they are expected to continue
to lift over the next 2-3 months as pig iron production is not likely to pick
up until after the Winter Olympics.”
Source: Stockhead