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Iron ore slides to over one-week low on sticking around China need concerns

Iron ore futures prices extended losses on Wednesday to their least expensive levels in more than one week, pressed by relentless issues about need in top customer China amidst an absence of considerable policy measures to increase steel uptake.

The most-traded May iron ore agreement on China's Dalian Product Exchange (DCE) ended daytime trade 3.53%. lower at 805.5 yuan ($ 111.43) a metric lot, the lowest considering that. Mar. 19.

The benchmark April iron ore on the Singapore. Exchange was 2.1% lower at $101.95 a lot, since 0754 GMT, the. least expensive because Mar. 18.

A weak steel price and thin steel margins, coupled with. high ore shipments, have reduced ore demand and rates,. Cheng Peng, a Beijing-based expert at Sinosteel Futures, stated.

Typical day-to-day hot metal output in April is anticipated at. between 2.25 million and 2.26 million heaps, much lower than the. 2.45 million loads in the very same duration a year before, experts at. consultancy Mysteel stated in a research note on Tuesday.

Pressure on ore costs from the supply side persisted in the. short term as both abroad ore shipments and domestic ore. arrivals rebounded today, experts at Huatai Futures stated in. a note.

Likewise, there is an expectation of more shipments from. Australia and Brazil with the approaching of the end of this. quarter, they said.

The persistent weak point came in spite of better-than-expected. industrial information.

Profits at China's industrial firms leapt 10.2% in the. first two months from the same duration in 2015, following a. 2.3% profit decrease for the whole of 2023, official data showed. on Wednesday.

Other steelmaking ingredients on the DCE also pulled away. even more, with coking coal and coke down 4.24%. and 3.36%, respectively.

Lower basic material costs and soft demand dragged down most. steel standards on the Shanghai Futures Exchange.

Rebar lost 1.97%, hot-rolled coil shed. 1.72%, wire rod fell 1.76% while stainless-steel. added 0.45%.

Steel need is presently much weaker than the exact same duration. a year before, and a destock is sluggish, Sinosteel's Cheng said.

(source: Reuters)