Find below the iron ore price complex table for February 4, 2103:
And the chart:
Iron ore spot seems fatally attracted to a new high. And why not? Although my rebar spot chart is yet to catch up, futures piled it on again:
And last week’s inventory data is out and shows an accelerating slide at Chinese ports:
As well as Indian supplied inventories:
At this point it’s hard to know how much froth there is in this and Chinese New Year be damned! The bullish combination of firming steel futures and falling inventories is bullish. Add in India’s woes an, as I’ve said, iron ore could do anything.
The news on India today is that normalcy is slowly returning. From Bloomberg:
India’s Karnataka, the nation’s second-richest iron-ore producing state until a court ruling restricted mining in 2011, will resume supplies from seven mines that restarted operations after the ban was lifted.
Initial supplies from the mines will start in the next two weeks, said H.R. Srinivasa, the state’s mining director and head of a committee appointed by the top court. Combined shipments may reach 2.5 million metric tons by March, he said.
The Supreme Court in September partially lifted a year-old ban on mining in Karnataka and allowed 18 mines to restart after securing required approvals. The court had halted mining in August, 2011 to probe violations of environmental norms, allowing only state-run NMDC Ltd. (NMDC) to mine 1 million tons a month and ruling all sales to be conducted via online auctions.
…The court on Feb. 1 said it will hear the Karnataka mining cases on a day-to-day basis from Feb. 18.
But this ban is 18 months old. There will be no rush back to market for India.
