The month-long inspections on steel mills outside Tangshan that started on April 6 have eroded already weak iron ore demand in China, keeping iron ore price movements largely rangebound on Thursday April 8.
Fastmarkets iron ore indices
62% Fe fines, cfr Qingdao: $173.10 per tonne, down $0.53 per tonne
62% Fe low-alumina fines, cfr Qingdao: $173.71 per tonne, down $0.45 per tonne
58% Fe fines high-grade premium, cfr Qingdao: $154.78 per tonne, up $0.13 per tonne
65% Fe Brazil-origin fines, cfr Qingdao: $202.60 per tonne, unchanged
62% Fe fines, fot Qingdao: 1,144 yuan per wet metric tonne (
implied 62% Fe China Port Price: $163.11 per dry tonne), down by 6 yuan per wmt
63% Fe Australia-origin lump ore premium, cfr Qingdao: $0.5350 per dry metric tonne unit (dmtu), up $0.0050 per dmtu.
Key drivers
The most-traded September iron ore futures contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) trended downwards throughout the session, ending down by 1.1% from Wednesday's closing price of...