Seaborne iron ore pellets performed better than concentrate in the week ended Friday October 16, with import hurdles for Australian coking coal resulting in increased demand for the former, according to sources.
Fastmarkets iron ore indices
66% Fe concentrate, cfr Qingdao: $130.64 per tonne, down $0.40 per tonne.
65% Fe blast furnace pellet, cfr Qingdao: $147.32 per tonne, up $3.66 per tonne.
Key drivers
While the rest of the iron ore market - mid-grade fines and futures - remained in a downtrend last week, seaborne prices for concentrate were largely stable while those for pellets gained some ground.
Sources said that recent import restrictions for Australian coal had resulted in a surge in domestic coking coal prices. As a result, buyers turned more of their attention to pellets, which requires less coke and coking coal in the steelmaking process compared with other iron ore products.
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