THE iron ore spot price hit a new low as China’s January trade data highlighted a slowdown in imports.
Tuesday, 10 February 2015
Kristie Batten
THE iron ore spot price hit a new low as China’s January trade data highlighted a slowdown in imports.
MB Iron Ore
62% Fines CFR
61.20 -1.29 -2.06 62.49
58% Fines CFR
51.35 0.20 0.39 51.15
Energy
WTI
52.86 1.17 2.26 51.69
Currencies
$A/$US
0.7803 0.0007 0.0898 0.7796
Iron ore imports in January fell by 9.5% on monthly and annual terms to 78.6 million tonnes.
ANZ Research said cold temperatures had hampered construction activity while property sector weakness had lowered demand.
“A smaller decline in iron ore port stocks in January to 93.8 million tonnes implies iron ore buying by Chinese steel mills is drying up, and this is confirmed by daily steel production in mid-January falling to the lowest levels since November 2014,” ANZ said.
The Metal Bulletin Iron Ore 62% Qingdao index hit an all-time low of $US61.20 per tonne, a 2% or $1.29 drop.
After hitting an all-time low on Friday, the MBIO 58% Qingdao index gained 0.4% or 20c to $51.35/t.
The Australian dollar was back over 78c, sitting at 78.03c
Cheers,
Samson
SDL Price at posting:
2.6¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held