Iron ore price, steel price and futures published daily
The contemporary seaborne iron ore price first emerged in 2003 when the Chinese development model shifted up a gear. Indian suppliers broke free of an annual contract pricing system that had been dominated by Australia, Brazil and Japan for decades.
As Chinese demand surged, traditional supply and pricing mechanisms could not keep pace. Indian miners in Goa and Karnataka had surplus supply and filled China’s marginal new needs outside the old benchmarking system.
But it still wasn’t enough and other non-traditional suppliers began to emerge in South America and Africa. These needed more dynamic pricing mechanisms and by 2008 Platts, Metal Bulletin and The Steel Index were publishing a daily iron ore price.
As the Chinese demand surge continued, by 2007, major Australian iron ore miners were charging enormous premiums to prices from five years earlier. The annual benchmarking system began to strain to the point breaking, including significant diplomatic tensions between Australia and China. This culminated in a proposed merger of BHP and RIO Tinto which triggered panic in Beijing as it feared an already supply-constrained market and soaring iron ore price would by made worse by monopoly pricing. The Chinese SOE, Chinalco, moved the buy a blocking stake in RIO Tinto.
However, the GFC intervened and deflated tensions as Chinese demand collapsed. But Chinese steel mills found themselves still tied to very high prices and an annual iron ore price benchmark that did not reflect the new reality. Many defaulted on cargoes and walked away from deals.
To fight the downturn, China unleashed an enormous fiscal and monetary stimulus that soon had China building more than ever. The demand for iron ore rocketed to all new highs. With the memory of contract defaults fresh in their minds, major Australian miners, led by BHP and CEO Marius Kloppers, abandoned the annual benchmarks, forcing Chinese steel mills to adopt a short term iron ore price using spot and quarterly contracts. Brazil joined in in 2010.
The spot iron ore price soared to all new highs and triggered a global wave of new supply from producers such as Fortescue Metals Group, Ferrexpo, Kumba Iron Ore, Anglo American and Sino Iron.
With the rise of the short term iron ore price market, iron ore derivative markets grew. First in the Singapore on the SGX and later in China as the Dalian Commodities Exchange and the United States at Chicago Commodities Exchange (CME). Iron ore derivatives could hedge and future price iron ore output.
These last developments coincided with the peak in the China boom and prices began to fall from 2012. After peaking above $190 per tonne, the iron ore price collapsed into the $30s in 2015 as new supply outstripped demand.
Ahead were still many years of oversupply, a lower iron ore price, consolidation and mine closures.
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Iron ore prices for April 4, 2019: Spot cooled. Paper is still warm. Steel is stuck. Some are bailing on the rally, via Seeking Alpha: The prospect of reduced global supply and improved demand for iron ore in China is being misread by investors, according to Liberum Capital, which reiterates Sell ratings on BHP, Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO) and
Iron ore prices for April 3, 2019: Spot wild. Paper flamed out as the contract rolled forward. Steel was up but also rolled. Via Platts: Iron ore prices may see short-term strength as a result of disruption from Tropical Cyclone Veronica in Western Australia and Vale’s expectation of reduced sales volumes this year, Barclays said
Iron ore prices for April 2, 2019: Spot jumped. Paper more. Steel too. Port stocks eased a little. If I wasn’t still a little bearish in China then we’d be going to the sky. Clyde Russell has more: The impact of the storm could be seen in Australia’s iron ore shipments in March, which dropped
Via the AFR comes FMG’s new magnetite mine: Iron Bridge would deliver a premium product with iron content of 67 per cent. About 3000 workers will be required for the construction and there will be about 900 permanent jobs once the mine is in production. The mine is expected to produce 22 million tonnes a year
Here are the latest China steel PMI numbers: March Feb. Jan. Dec. Nov. Oct. Sept. 2019 2019 2019 2018 2018 2018 2018 Index Steel Industry PMI 46.8 50.6 51.5 45.6 45.2 52.1 52.0 Output 44.7 52.2 46.8 44.6 47.6 55.7 53.6 New Orders 46.3 47.8 53.4 39.5 35.4 52.3 48.9 New Export Orders 46.2 48.7
Iron ore prices for April 1, 2019: Spot up. Paper up more overnight. Steel too. More bad news for supply: Mining giant BHP Group Ltd said on Tuesday its iron ore production would take a hit of about 6 million to 8 million tonnes as per its initial estimate after disruption and damage caused by
Iron ore prices for March 29, 2019: Spot roared. Paper less so. Steel jumped. The cause was RIO: Rio Tinto said on Friday it issued force majeure notices to some iron ore customers due to damage from tropical cyclone Veronica, which hit Western Australia earlier this week. A force majeure is invoked when a company
Iron ore prices for March 28, 2019: Spot down. All else stable. Vale has offered more details, via Platts: Brazilian miner Vale’s iron ore shipments in 2019 are set to total between 50 million mt to 75 million mt below its prior forecasts due to its recent troubles, Chief Financial Officer Luciano Siani Pires said
Iron ore prices for March 27, 2019: Spot faded. Everything else holding. Equilibrium for now.
There are reasons to be optimistic. More infrastructure is coming. But there are other, more powerful forces, that make it a worry. We know steel demand is being dented by the manufacturing recession and weak car demand. But the big one is realty. It always is, constituting 30-40% of steel consumption. This is a problem
Iron ore prices for March 26, 2019: Spot eased. Paper stable. Steel too. Port stocks rose to 148.6mt. Vale is out with its latest damage estimate, via Reuters: On Tuesday, Vale reported an 8.2 percent rise in quarterly iron ore production, bringing full-year 2018 output to 384.64 million tonnes, slightly below its annual target. In
Iron ore prices for March 25, 2019: Spot fell. Paper too. And steel. CISA output remains off its face. I’m beginning to tilt bearish here. Vale remains a rolling bullish shock but the fundamental set up is poor. There are huge piles of steel inventory sitting in China. Output is completely uninhibited by any pollution
Iron ore prices for March 24, 2019: Spot up on the Pilbara cyclone. Everything else at peace. Here’s the latest image: RIO’s Cape Lambert facilities are very close to the red zone. That’s 200mt of capacity at risk. The best case is going to lose a week’s worth of shipments which will not help Q1 GDP.
Via The West: China could slash its iron ore imports 40 per cent as its Government winds down its stimulus of an overpriced housing sector, which would have disastrous consequences for Australian iron ore producers, a conference in Perth was told yesterday. J Capital partner and iron ore and steel analyst Tim Murray said China’s
Iron ore prices for March 21, 2019: Spot flat. Paper too. Steel up. In news, Vale signaled another small mine had failed a dam test but that has been overshadowed b the Brucutu news. In the very short term a Pilbara accident might also drive prices: Port Hedland has already cleared ships. That’s a
Iron ore prices for March 20, 2019: Spot hammered. Paper worse. Steel fine. Chinese iron ore port stock lifted to 148.2mt last week. Bloomie has more on Brucutu: Bradesco BBI, Thiago Lofiego Positive development for Vale. However, it’s still uncertain if the company can regain the provisional operating license under which it operated the Laranjeiras
Iron ore price for March 19, 2019: Spot down. Paper down more. Steel stable. The news is all good for Vale this morning, via Vertical Group: VALE SAYS COURT ALLOWED OPS TO RESUME WITH LARANJEIRAS DAM. This news is effectively 30Mmtpa that just came back on-line, unexpectedly, for Vale. This quite bad for iron ore
Iron ore prices for March 18, 2019: Spot up. Paper up more. Steel down. Reuters has the rub: The Brazilian miner said on Saturday that it would cut production at an iron ore mine in the state of Minas Gerais with annual capacity of 12.8 million tonnes and will also suspend operations at its Doutor
Iron ore prices for March 17, 2019: Spot down. Paper up. Steel down. Still no clarity here.
Iron ore prices for March 14, 2019: Spot still range trading. We still don’t know where it is going. Same for the broader ferrous complex. Yesterday’s Chines data suggested that a headwind is still developing in real estate with sales still falling year on year and starts beginning to catch down: That is, despite
Iron ore price charts for March 12, 2019: Spot bounced. Paper firmed. Steel jumped. There’s still no clarity here, a point made nicely by Clyde Russell: The first fact worth noting is that China, which produces just over half of the world’s steel, hasn’t really slowed output of the metal much, despite considerable media reporting of
Iron ore prices for March 11, 2019: Spot tumbled. Paper held up overnight. Steel is soft. Chinese port stocks of iron ore climbed above 147mt last week. Brazilian exports to China were fine in February, up 24% year on year. It’s still too early to say if the crisis has been over-egged and Vale
Iron ore prices for March 9, 2018: Spot crunched. Paper more so overnight. Coking coal too. Steel OK. Chinese trade data showed a mixed picture with steel export up decently year on year over Jan/Feb: But that is usually a bearish signal for Chinese steel demand which only ships more oversees when local conditions deteriorate.
Iron ore prices for March 7, 2019: Spot up. Paper down. Steel weak. Coking coal too. Still no clarity here. The base case remains a steady fade in prices from these levels provided there is worse Vale news.
Iron ore prices for March 6, 2019: Spot smashed. Paper soft. Steel stable. Coking coal too. Still waiting for the fog to clear.
Iron ore prices for March 5, 2019: Spot defied paper falls. Steel fell. Coking coal is stable. Platts describes the fog surrounding Vale today: The iron ore market could lose as much as 90 million mt/year of supplies from Brazil — about a quarter of the country’s total export capacity — from output curbs following
Iron ore prices for March 4, 2019: Spot down. Paper down more. Coking coal stable. Steel strong. We’re entering a seasonal period when iron ore would normally be falling but that has been badly compromised by the Vale accident and Chinese stimulus efforts such as they are. That has destocking mills battling with other extraneous
by Chris Becker The iron ore complex finally stopped their near 7 day losing streak with a blip higher in spot prices yesterday, with Tianjin spot up nearly 2% as the disappointing Chinese PMI figures failed to translate into anything meaningful. Supply is still not a concern with production stats in from the World Steel
by Chris Becker Iron ore prices continue to slide with both spot and futures markets putting in a sixth straight loss. Port inventories rose to just over 145 million tonnes last week, the highest since September 2018, but steel demand should kick in soon. Texture from Reuters: The spring period beginning in March, after China’s
by Chris Becker Iron ore prices nearly hit a monthly low yesterday as reduced steel production and increased Brazilian exports weighed on the complex. Dalian prices are down nearly 10%, although rebar prices continue to climb: From IG: Brazil’s daily exports reached 1.4 million tonnes of iron ore per business day, despite last month’s mine
