Find below the iron ore price table for October 23. 2013:
Hmmm, the 12 month swaps breakout is looking more and more like a false signal, probably based upon the anticipated launch of Dalian futures, which are going just one way right now, down to an equivalent of about $126 for the six month:
The arbitrage is closing but by falls in Dalian not rises in Singapore. Rebar futures also broke to a new low suggesting more fall ahead for rebar and more pressure on squeezed steel mill margins.
The news from India is also a concern. Apparently Goa state has a nice stockpile of ore ready to go:
Goa can straight away export 25-30 million tonnes (mt) of iron ore, if the Supreme Court lifts the mining ban in the state. Mining has been banned in Goa since September last year.
“We have a ready stock of 25-30 mt, which is lying idle since the mining ban,” said Christopher Fonseca, general-secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress (Goa) and a member of the Goa Mining People’s Front.
The hearing of the Goa mining case is expected to resume on October 22. The state government is to file its reply to various questions raised by the SC during the last hearing in September.
“We expect mining operations in Goa will restart by year-end,” said Fonseca.
Environmentalists are seeking to extend the Shah Commission that banned illegal iron ore mining across India but appear to be running into stiff headwinds:
NEW DELHI: Environmentalists instrumental in getting theSupreme Court to intervene in mining illegalities in Goa and Karnataka joined hands on Monday to petition the top court against the “discontinuation” of the Shah Commission, which is currently looking into mining irregularities in Odisha.
The court’s forest bench will hear on Monday a joint plea filed by a Chhattisgarh-based non-government organisation and others seeking a further extension of the Shah Commission’s term.
“The decision not to grant extension to the Shah Commission, as was sought by the commission itself, is clearly mala fide since it had become clear that the work of the commission was affecting the interests of big corporates and mining barons, as well as of the top politicians and ministers in the country,” Prashant Bhushan, counsel for the NGO, said in his plea.
A senior mines ministry official said the last three-month extension given to the Shah Commission “was a Cabinet decision” and declined any further comment, saying the matter was “sub-judice now”.
The Government wants exports. We will know in few days, I guess. Combine this with the growing realisation that Chinese growth is peaking and looking bubbly as well and the headwinds for iron ore spot have suddenly strengthened.
