Iron ore on collision course with Chinese golden depression

Thursday 28 August 2025

The ferrous complex is kidding itself, its usual state of being.

Trading right now is suspicious. During the day, prices fall due to market dynamics. At night, they spike in an illiquid market. Somebody is playing silly buggers.

The mushrooming gap between steel and iron ore is going to close one way or another.

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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.