Iron Ore Market in Brief: Prices little changed amid Australian supply recovery
KEY MARKET DRIVERS
Australia’s Pilbara Ports Authority said on Wednesday morning that the Port of Dampier had resumed normal operations at 6 am local time, after being closed for 132 hours, or 5.5 days, due to Cyclone Veronica, which began to affect iron ore shipments from ports in Western Australia last Thursday.
According to Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) said on Wednesday that it had restarted iron ore shipments from its inventories at the Port of Port Hedland on Tuesday afternoon. The miner added that the rail system between its mines and the port were expected to resume operations on Wednesday as well, having been suspended since Saturday due to heavy rains and flooding connected with the cyclone.
FMG said it was rescheduling shipments postponed by the port closure. Brazilian miner Vale announced late on Tuesday that its iron ore output reached 384.6 million MT in 2018, 4.9% higher year on year, but shy of its guidance of 390 million MT. China’s iron ore futures responded to the news with limited price fluctuations since Tuesday night, while 62% Fe iron ore swaps on the Singapore Exchange have also been range-bound.
Spot transactions at Chinese ports became a bit more active than on Tuesday, but prices were largely steady. Seaborne iron ore trading remained not very active. The price movements were based on the visible market activity, which was included in the index calculation according to the published methodology.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Neither the Australian cyclone nor the Vale updates have been [affecting] the general iron ore market, which is currently weighed on by sintering and steelmaking restrictions in north China, as well as active supplies of Chinese domestic iron ore concentrate,” a mill source in Tangshan said.
Report By: Mehrdad Najafi
