India: SteelMint's iron ore export index rises by $2/t

SteelMint's weekly Indian low-grade iron ore fines (Fe 57%) export index increased by $2/tonne (t) w-o-w to $92/t FOB east coast on 21 December, 2023. A deal of 50,000 t of Fe 56/57% was recorded at $105/t CFR China in this publishing window. However, a miner concluded an 80,000 t deal for Fe 54% grade iron ore fines (low alumina) recently at $105/t CFR from the southeast coast of India. While the miners sold 200,000 t iron ore lumps (Fe54.5%) at $108/t CFR China.

Iron ore offers were up against last one week amid active deals of the east coast and southern India region for January shipment. However, a few traders and miners said that offers were supportive for single mine material cargo at the port.

An East-Indian-based trader said, "Current low-grade offers in the overseas market are quite impressive, but deals could not be made by most of the Indian sellers. the market saw a mixed trend as offers gap between buyers for Indian materials and a slight drop in demand also appeared. The market has one and half months away from the Chinese holidays, so everyone expecting the offers remain firm and their material may book at decent levels."

As per reports, It's quite probable that steel mills will restock their inventory following the Lunar New Year holiday. Because of the absence of strong purchasing activity during the year-end slump, the seaborne market's liquidity was at lower levels.

Price indicators:

• No deal was reported this week and taken into calculation. Thus, given 0% weightage. For detailed methodology Click here.
  
  
• SteelMint received fourteen (14) indicative prices in the current publishing window and nine (9) were considered for price calculation as T2 inputs and given 100% weightage.
  
  

Market highlights:

• W-o-w stability global iron ore prices: The benchmark Fe 62% fines index inched down by around $1/t on a w-o-w basis to $135/t CFR China on 20 December. According to reports, some market participants have begun securing shipments scheduled for February to capitalise on the post-holiday demand revival. Meanwhile, others are favouring cargoes set to arrive before the Chinese New Year holidays.
  
  
• DCE iron ore futures edge down w-o-w: Iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) contract for May 2024 increased by around RMB 26/t ($4/t) to RMB 968/t ($135/t) on 21 December compared to last week. On a d-o-d basis, prices increased significantly by RMB 29/t ($4/t) against RMB 939/t (131/t) yesterday.
  
  
• Iron ore port inventory in China up w-o-w: Iron ore inventory at major Chinese ports inched up by around 0.3 mnt to 113.6 mnt on 14 December compared to the previous week, according to SteelHome data.
  
  

India's iron ore export shipments were recorded at 734,364 in the second week of December compared to 1,158,898 t in the first week of the month, as per vessel line-up data maintained with SteelMint.

Outlook

Indian iron ore offers may remain supportive in the coming days amid restocking activities before the Chinese Lunar New Year holidays.