Today, DCE iron ore futures continued to fluctuate in the doldrums, with the most-traded contract I2509 closing at 783, down 0.19% for the day. Traders sold goods according to market conditions. As the weekend approached, steel mills’ purchase willingness weakened somewhat. The market transaction atmosphere was average. In the Shandong region, the mainstream transaction prices of PB fines were around 765-767 yuan/mt, up 2 yuan/mt from yesterday’s prices. In the Tangshan region, the transaction prices of PB fines were around 780-783 yuan/mt, up 2- 3 yuan/mt from yesterday’s prices. As of August 1, SMM data showed that the total iron ore inventory at 35 ports nationwide was 130.48 million mt, a decrease of 1.36 million mt WoW. Currently, steel mills have strong enthusiasm for hot metal production from blast furnaces, and overall port cargo pick-up remains high. The accumulation of port inventory is relatively small, and the supply pressure of iron ore is relatively small.

Download PDF

Source: Metals Market Index (MMI)