Find below the iron ore price table for March 3, 2013:
So, one of those rare days when the physical actually ignored the derivatives. Not sure why iron ore equities got pulverised yesterday. Perhaps they’ll rebound today as the broader market sells off.
In news today is marginally bad for iron ore producers. The China Daily reports on new plans to consolidate steel:
A list of 45 Chinese steel enterprises that meet national iron and steel industrial standards was published Tuesday in the latest move to tackle excess production capacity thathas plagued the sector.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, or MIIT, said in a statement that the listed enterprises are up to standards regarding product quality, environmental protection, energy consumption, workmanship and equipment, production scale as well as work safety and other social responsibility.
The 45 qualified steel makers consist of 30 State-owned enterprises like Baosteel and AngangSteel, and 15 private companies, whose combined crude steel output last year reached 300 million metric tons, or 41.4 percent of the country’s total steel output, according to the ministry.
The 45-member list was chosen among 104 firms located in 19 provinces, municipalities andautonomous regions.
Miao Zhimin, deputy director of the Raw Materials Department of the MIIT, said the ministry would work with other government departments to support those qualified enterprises and facilitate the merger and restructuring of the steel industry.
Companies that fail to meet the national standards will have their room for development squeezed with higher electricity prices and stricter administrative measures, Miao said.
Assuming this works (it’s been tried before)you would expect it to result in more efficient (and not necessarily lower) steel output, higher steel margins and more concentrated iron ore buying power.
