Iron ore price

Texture from Reuters: Coking coal futures in China gained the most in four weeks on Tuesday amid market talks about fresh import curbs on the steelmaking raw material, following brisk purchases in recent months by the world’s biggest coal buyer and consumer.

Texture from Reuters: Vale, the world’s largest iron ore miner, said on Friday that Brazilian regulator ANM had allowed it to resume its Alegria mine operations, which were interrupted last March after a “stress test” failed to guarantee its stability.

Texture from Reuters: “(Iron ore) is getting hit from both sides – softening demand and improving supplies from Australia and Brazil in the second half of 2019,” analysts at ANZ Research said in a note.

Via RIO at Bloomie: Iron ore shipments from Rio Tinto Group could rise as much as 5% in 2020 as the producer recovers from operational issues in Australia this year, the exporter says Thursday.

Texture from Bloomie: Cargoes of the steelmaking material shipped via Hedland may swell to a new high in the fiscal year to June 2020, and over this calendar year may beat 2018’s total, Chief Executive Officer Roger Johnston said in an interview.

Texture from Reuters: “Investors remained cautious amid subdued Chinese steel margins and construction demand,” ANZ Research analysts said in a note. “An undersupplied (global) market remains the reality and this has seen prices holding up near $90 a tonne,” ANZ analysts said.

Via Tom Price, head of commodities at Macquarie: The world’s metal producers, traders and market commentators arrive in London this week for a big annual gathering.

Texture from Reuters: But Darren Toh, data scientist at Singapore-based steel and iron data analytics company Tivlon Technologies, said he remained bullish on iron ore.

Texture from Reuters: Steel product inventories in China notched up a third weekly decline in the week to Oct.

Texture from Reuters: “While Tangshan cities are facing production curbs to reduce pollution, other steel plants are reported to increase their production because of attractive profitability,” Argonaut Securities said in a note.

Not much to add today beyond the charts: Spot firmed.

Here it is: Thermal coal is today sitting at $68: And coking coal has bounced a little out of its rout at $152: As it stands, coking coal is right at budget projections and thermal is well below.

Neither.

A little short term luck for iron ore today: On this, via Reuters: Brazilian iron ore miner Vale said on Monday it has temporarily shut down its Itabiruçu tailings dam and lowered its full year iron ore and pellet sales guidance as a result.

Picking up the bat and running with it is GLJ research: Is it Realistic to Envision an Environment where Iron Ore Prices Drop Back to the 1989-2003 Avg.

Pig’s bottom, at the AFR: A Chinese state-owned entity will seek to revive a $9.7 billion mining rail and port project in Western Australia, in a move that could unlock the nation’s next iron ore export province.

Regular readers will know that the notion of a coming slowdown in Chinese real estate investment has been one reason why MB is more bearish on Australia than most.

Texture from Reuters: China’s central province of Henan has issued an orange smog alert, the second highest in the nation’s three-tier pollution alarm system, which will be applied to 12 cities.

Via Argus: Higher pollutant emission standards for China’s steel industry continued to drive the country’s steel scrap usage for steel production higher in the first six months of this year.

Texture from Reuters: Trade tensions between the United States and China, the world’s two largest economies, are a significant source of risk for the global economy, with “real spillover effects” for emerging markets, top IMF officials said on Wednesday.

Via Wood Mackenzie: There has been an uneasy tension around hard coking coal (HCC) prices for some time.

Texture from Reuters: Benchmark Dalian iron ore futures slumped in morning trade on Wednesday, extending losses into a third session, after China’s top steelmaking city of Tangshan issued a second-level smog alert that requires mills to further limit operations.