DCE iron ore futures market continued falling trends and I2201 recorded new low of 660yuan/mt. Quotations in the physical port stock market declined by 30-35yuan/mt in the morning, some traders tended to clinch deals while others showed little enthusiasm in offering prices given the higher costs. Steel mills remained purchase on-demands and the transaction volumes maintained relatively low. PBF was closed at 835-845yuan/mt in Shandong market and that in Tianjin was 880-890yuan/mt, with price down of 35-45yuan/mt. According to SMM, about 11 steel mills from Jiangsu province successively started their maintenance on blast furnaces, with daily pig iron production cuts averaged 50,000 mt, and pig iron demands are expected to decrease 85,000 mt per day. Some traders told SMM, they have little interests in purchasing at the moment due to the expectation of declining iron ore demands. Meanwhile, they also performed to be relatively pessimistic on steel mills’ restocking before the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays. Some steel mills still see bearish of the iron ore prices in the near future.
Source: Metals Market Index (MMi)