Iron ore, coking coal firm on restocking hope

2018-03-26 14:31:00

Seaborne iron ore prices rebounded slightly on Wednesday, while coking coal prices have resisted the sharp declines seen in iron ore. The outlook for raw materials still rests on higher Chinese steel output in the coming months however and so far steel prices have not given much confidence.

The Kallanish index for 62% Fe Australian fines recovered $0.98/tonne to $67.90/dry metric ton cfr Qingdao. 170,000 tonnes of PB fines sold at $66.23/t with a laycan in 24 April-3 May. On the Dalian Commodity Exchange May iron ore settled up CNY 3.5/t at CNY 462.5/t ($73.05/t), while on the Singapore Exchange April 62% Fe futures settled up $0.59/t at $66.29.

Coking coal prices were also fairly steady. Two 75,000t cargos of hard coking coal sold on globalCOAL at $207/t and $204/t fob Australia for April shipment. A similar cargo was heard offered at $211/t fob on Tuesday. A week earlier a cargo traded on globalCOAL at $214/t fob. On Dalian May coking coal settled up CNY 14/t at CNY 1,300/t, May coke futures meanwhile settled up CNY 15.5/t at CNY 1,960/t.

Some analysts hope raw materials prices may now be supported by the delayed end of some steelmaking restrictions at the end of March. That may require a bout of restocking by mills. Steel markets are still struggling with low demand however, with construction activity now only expected to pick up properly in early April.