Steel prices in China again begun to fall after weeks of the continuous increase, due to soft transactions. Meanwhile, the global iron ore prices also fell constantly and moved in a low range.
The domestic spot steel price composite index closed at 73.7 points by January 15, down 1.15 percent week on week, said Mysteel.
At the beginning of last week, due to weak steel futures and contraction in steel transactions on the spot market, the spot steel prices fell quickly. But, in some regions, given the relatively low stocks at the end of the year, some traders were not reluctant to sell goods at a low price.
On the homegrown ore market, prices of iron ore concentrates in north China's Hebei Province performed weakly with scarce transactions. Under such circumstances, the domestic ore mines increased efforts to halt production. By January 14, the Platts 62-percent iron ore price index closed at 39.25 US dollars/metric ton (tonne), down 2.25 U.S. dollar week on week.
Due to more shipments from the international mine enterprises, iron ore stocks at the domestic ports have increased persistently since the fourth quarter of 2015. However, with the acceleration in steel de-capacity, steel mills' demands for the iron ore will drop further, making it hard to ease the glut in the iron ore market, according to the Xiben New Line.
With the approach of the Spring Festival holiday, many construction sites have stop operation, leading to an obviously soft demand. On the other hand, due to sharp losses, the domestic steel mills are plagued by financial strain. Their negative attitude towards production also led to low supplies of steels.
Latest comments