Iron ore zombie shuffles towards writedowns

Monday 21 July 2014

Arrium has reported production for the second quarter and, hey, hey, it’s more dirt, 3.32 million tones of it for a total over the year of 12.5mt. It expects to be at 13mt output with six months. Realised prices tumbled to $85 per tonne.

Well, good for it. Here’s the UBS grade adjusted break even chart:

Not such good news, then.

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About the author

David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.