Daily iron ore price update (rout returns)

Thursday, 5 August 2021

The ferrous complex was weak on August 4, 2021 as spot fell, paper slumped overnight and steel rebounded strongly:

This is all pretty good confirmation that the market agrees that it got it wrong that China is about to abandon its steel output cuts story. It’s not. CCP mouthpiece, The Global Times, clarified it in case you’re still wondering:

…due to environmental and other policy goals, China has moved swiftly to curb steel production. In the latest move, the State Council, China’s Cabinet, has announced tariff hikes on certain steel products to cut exports, which came into effect on Sunday.

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About the author

David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.