Today, the DCE iron ore market exhibited a weak trend. The benchmark contract, I2605, closed at 781.5 RMB/tonne, recording a decline of 0.32% from the previous trading day. Conversely, spot prices in the physical market rose by 1–3 RMB/tonne compared to the prior session. Traders displayed moderate enthusiasm for quoting, while steel mills focused primarily on procurement for rigid demand. Consequently, the overall trading atmosphere remained average. According to the latest SMM survey data, as of 4 February, the blast furnace (BF) operating rate across 242 surveyed steel mills stood at 86.41%, reflecting a week-on-week increase of 1 percentage point. The BF capacity utilisation rate was recorded at 87.48%, up 0.77 percentage points week-on-week. Daily average hot metal output from the sample mills reached 2.3702 million tonnes, an increase of 21,000 tonnes compared to the previous period. Looking ahead, although the resumption of blast furnace operations has driven an improvement in rigid demand for iron ore, the market remains constrained by ample supply resources. High inventory levels continue to form an effective cap on price upside. Given this interplay between supply and demand, it is projected that iron ore prices will likely maintain a volatile and weak prevailing trend in the short term.

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Source: Metals Market Index (MMI)