Daily iron ore price update (2015's biggest loser)

Happy New Year and good to be back. Apologies for lateness today, data issues.

Here are the iron ore charts for January 16, 2015:

So, where are we? Short term paper markets have rebounded a little from last year but longer term remain suppressed and spot remains near its lows. Chinese steel production ended the year in reasonable shape and up a couple of percent on the year but rebar average is currently taking another leg down. Port inventories of iron ore, as well as mill stocks have still been falling. Though the former remains moderately high, this indicates that Chinese mills are having to destock in order to keep prices below $70. That rather suggests that the current price range between the mid $60s and low $70s is in equilibrium.

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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.

Daily iron ore price update (2015’s biggest loser)