Seaborne prices for iron ore concentrate and pellets continued to decline last week on softening demand and limited liquidity ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday in China, sources told Fastmarkets.
Fastmarkets iron ore indices
66% Fe concentrate, cfr Qingdao: $176.57 per tonne, down $8.68 per tonne.
65% Fe blast furnace pellet, cfr Qingdao: $212.27 per tonne, down $13.22 per tonne.
Key drivers
Weak demand for concentrate and pellets kept trading activity to a minimum in the seaborne market and at ports in China, which led to prices falling, sources told Fastmarkets.
A buyer source in southern China said that several cargoes of iron ore concentrate were still offered in the seaborne market last week, indicating that supply is still healthy. But only a few deals were concluded, which underlines the weakened demand from most mills in China having restocked a few weeks earlier.
Indian suppliers also attempted to divert their pellet cargoes to China from both their domestic market as well as Japan, but the reception for these were cool, he added.
A trading source...