Iron Ore Market in Brief: BHP investigates on rail carriages dislodge at Port Hedland
On Monday October 7, seaborne iron ore prices were steady despite that Australian miner BHP reported damage to a car dumper at its operations in Port Hedland, Australia.
Commodity | Price | Difference / MT |
MB 62% FE IRON ORE FINES INDEX | USD 93.38 per ton CFR Qingdao | unchanged |
MB 62% FE PILBARA BLEND FINES INDEX | USD 92.91 per ton CFR Qingdao | unchanged |
MB 62% FE IRON ORE INDEX-LOW ALUMINA | USD 91.72 per ton CFR Qingdao | unchanged |
MB 58% FE PREMIUM INDEX | USD 82.28 per ton CFR Qingdao | unchanged |
MB 65% FE IRON ORE INDEX | USD 100.40 per ton CFR Qingdao | unchanged |
MB 62% FE CHINA PORT PRICE INDEX | 739 Yuan per wet metric ton | unchanged |
MARKET DRIVERS
“On Saturday October 5, four carriages on train 2043 dislodged while in a car dumper at our port operations in Port Hedland. The incident is currently under investigation,” according to a company spokesman. “The car dumper has incurred some damage, but it is expected that it will be operational again in the coming days. No one was injured,” he added.
“We continue to work with our customers to meet our contractual commitments and we will provide an update at our next operational review,” he added. The miner’s next operational review will be on October 17. BHP had announced iron ore production guidance of 273-286 million MT for the year ending June 30, 2020 in its previous operational review in July, when it said that it had planned to undertake a major car dumper maintenance campaign in September.
The seaborne iron ore market has seen significant disruptions in the mid-grade segment this year, due to a mining accident in Brazil and weather-related supply woes in Australia. The disruptions have contributed to the spread between the high- and mid-grade materials to narrow to a three-year low of USD6.60 per MT in September, based on records.
While many market participants said that the recent incident at Port Hedland was unlikely to affect seaborne iron ore supply, a trader source remarked that with the market in a tight supply-demand balance this year, minor disruptions could also affect prices.
Markets in China remained closed on Monday and are set to reopen on Tuesday October 8.
Report By: Javad Najafi
