Shanghai rebar futures were soft Friday, and iron ore firmed:
Mills remain destocked:
On the other hand, inventories of imported iron ore sintering fines piled at the 64 mills accumulated by 2.8% on week to reach 8.9 million tonnes by August 9, though still being 29% lower on year, according to Mysteel’s tracking.
Some steel mills in South China received large quantities of seaborne cargoes over the period, the source explained.
The existing stocks of imported sintering fines at these mills, therefore, should be sufficient to last them for 15 days at their current consumption rate, unchanged from the prior period while still serving as the shortest since Mysteel launched the survey in July 2011.
Nevertheless, cautiousness has grown among most steelmakers recently regarding iron ore procurement, as they worry that they may be ordered by government authorities to control their annual crude steel output in the coming months, Mysteel Global noted.
That tells you all you need to know about mills’ view of “stimulus”.
RIO’s African treason mine is ramping up:
The development of the world’s biggest untapped iron ore deposit came another step closer after Rio Tinto and its consortium partners agreed a pact with the Guinea government over building a crucial rail line.
…Rio said on Friday that it had struck a deal with Guinea and the Winning Consortium Simandou — which is building another project at Simandou — to develop the 600 kilometres of rail lines needed to transport the iron ore to the port.
Simandou is divided into four blocks, with blocks 1 and 2 controlled by the Winning Consortium Simandou, backed by Chinese and Singaporean companies, while Rio and Aluminum Corp of China, known as Chinalco, own blocks 3 and 4.
90mt of tonnes of iron ore for the singular purpose of replacing Pilbara volumes and shooting it at Aussies when the war starts.
Thanks, RIO.
