Iron Ore Market in Brief: Prices dip after rising above USD 95 per ton
KEY MARKET DRIVERS
Seaborne iron ore prices corrected down slightly on Tuesday April 9 after surging past USD 95 per ton CFR China on Monday.
KEY DRIVERS
Rio Tinto confirmed on Tuesday that a fire had broken out on Saturday April 6 at a screening house at the company’s East Intercourse Island port operation in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Emergency services were deployed and the fire was brought safely under control with no injuries, the miner said.
Rio added that the operations have restarted at part of the facility, with affected areas remaining closed while investigators establish the cause of the incident. This was Rio Tinto’s second fire of the year related to iron ore operations, after January’s incident at the company’s Cape Lambert operations in Pilbara.
Market participants stated they do not expect the incident will have much impact on iron ore prices because port operations resumed so quickly. However, shipment postponements from ports in Western Australia after Cyclone Veronica last month have been more serious than expected, mostly involving Pilbara Blend fines, according to sources.
Some April cargoes could even be deferred by two weeks, a Chinese mill source said. This compares with an anticipated delay of around seven days last week. An index-linked bid was made on a platform for an early-May Cape size shipment of Pilbara Blend fines at a premium of USD 2.50 per ton, although no seaborne deal was reported for the product during the day.
China’s ferrous futures largely trended down on Tuesday, albeit at a moderate rate before the 3pm close for iron ore contracts. Spot transaction prices in the morning were similar to those on
Monday afternoon, but they retreated in the afternoon. 62% Fe Iron Ore Index fell by USD 0.45 per ton on Tuesday, while the 65% Fe Iron Ore Index increased by USD 0.20 per ton.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“The fire at Rio Tinto’s port may not have affected iron ore fines prices much, but we might need to pay attention to lump [prices] because the screening house was [involved],” a China based mill source said.
Report By: Shahriyar Yusefi
