Courtesy of ANZ:
Coking coal prices continued to fall, down to USD142/t, while iron ore prices remained flat. The preliminary HSBC PMI results set a bearish tone for industrial metals. Iron ore port stockpiles in China rose slightly last week to 72.5mt, but still remain significantly low compared to recent years. Iron ore traders are reportedly being targeted by banks keeping liquidity tight, which is why port stocks have not rebounded in any significant manner. The iron ore curve is also in backwardation, which is also keeping traders side-lined. On the flipside, Australian physical thermal coal prices continued to edge higher, in line with a mild pick-up in paper values. However, bidding interest in the Indonesian sub-bit market appears to have cooled ahead of China’s plans to impose an import ban for lower quality coal with a calorific value of less than 4,540kcal/kg NAR.
