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China’s imported iron ore prices both for seaborne and port inventories had touched their respective multi-year highs over February 22-26 since Mysteel commenced the respective surveys, and the market sentiment appeared rather bullish in the last week of February with the participants expecting for further increase in demand from the Chinese steel mills.
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China’s domestic-produced iron ore concentrates procurement prices rose the most in Liaoning of Northeast China by Yuan 160/dmt ($24.8/dmt) on week over February 22-26, mainly on the support of buoyant demand from both the local and nearby steel mills, according to Mysteel’s latest market survey.
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Domestic prices of iron ore and coke in China split over February 22-26, with iron ore prices continuing their trek upwards and fuelled by bullish market sentiment. On the other hand, coke prices have dipped from their recent highs as the persistent supply tightness has now slightly eased.
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Carbon steel prices in China’s domestic spot and futures markets moved up further over February 22-26, propelled by sustained optimism about business fundamentals. However, the momentum had slowed by week’s end as actual demand had not fully recovered, Mysteel Global noted.
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Prices ofimported coalslidover February 22-26.
Coking coal imports
SeabornePCIcoal offering price to China, unit: $/tonne
PCIcoalimports:
SeabornePCIcoal offering price to China, unit:$/tonne
Seaborne thermalcoal offering price to China:
Edited by Sean Xie, xiepy@mysteel.com
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Iron ore concentrate stocks held by the 186 Chinese mining companies under Mysteel's regular survey reached a three-month high of 1.9 million tonnes as of February 25, even though output during the period had eased. Disruptions to iron ore concentrate deliveries from mines to mills and softened demand in some regions contributed to the increase in stocks, according to survey respondents.
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Blast furnace capacity utilization among the 247 steel mills across China surveyed by Mysteel remained largely stable at 92.28% as of February 25, or up merely 0.1 percentage point on week, as some Chinese steel mills had been gradually ramping up their output after the routine maintenance or the Chinese New Year holiday, according to Mysteel’s latest survey.
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Imported iron ore stocks at China’s 45 ports nudged down over February 18-25 after five survey periods of rises, dipping by 621,700 tonnes from February 5-17 to 126.4 million tonnes, mainly as higher daily discharges from these ports offset the higher new ore arrivals, according to Mysteel’s latest survey.
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Steel stocks held by traders across China increased over the first week after the Chinese New Year holiday, rising by 16.4% on week as mills passed along some stocks to traders, Mysteel Global noted.
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Stocks of imported iron ore sintering fines at China’s 64 steel mills under Mysteel’s regular survey, just as expected, declined 2 million tonnes or 10% over from February 10 to about 17.8 million tonnes by February 24, as the mills had been relying on their in-plant iron ore stocks during the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday over February 10-17, according to the latest data.
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The operating rate of the 110 Chinese independent and affiliated coking coal wash plants sampled by Mysteel jumped by 5 percentage points on fortnight to average 66% as of February 23, according to the latest report published on Wednesday. The results showed that coal processing operations are recovering after the Chinese New Year break over February 11-17.
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The total volume of iron ore dispatched to global destinations from the 19 ports and 16 mining companies in Australia and Brazil declined to 22.6 million tonnes over February 15-21, down after one-week rise by 3.4 million tonnes or 13% on week, with lower volumes reported from both origins, according to Mysteel’s latest survey.
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The price of ferromolybdenum (FeMo) in China reached a one-year high as of February 20, mainly due to a rise in production costs and the climb in FeMo prices in the global market, according to Mysteel’s latest survey. Saturday was a compensatory working day in China.
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China’s domestically-produced iron ore concentrates transaction prices showed signs of firmness by February 20, up by as much as Yuan 150/dmt ($23.2/dmt) from February 10, mainly due to the growing demand from the Chinese steel mills and the strengthening in the imported iron ore prices last week, while less supply from Shandong in East China with the ongoing mining operations’ safety checks lent support too, Mysteel’s latest market survey showed.
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China’s imported coking coal prices of different grades have diverged after the Chinese buyers have returned from the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday, and on February 20, the price of the premium low-volatile (PLV) hard coking coal fell $9.25/tonne from February 10 to $158.5/t, while that of the premium medium-volatile (PMV) hard coking coal gained $3.75/t to $221.5/t, both on CFR North China, according to Mysteel’s assessments.
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China’s export offering prices of finished steel including the hot-rolled coil (HRC) and rebar rebounded by $15-25/tonne in the first couple of days after China has been back to work from the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday over February 11-17, having borrowed support from the higher global steel prices and the rising raw material costs, according to Mysteel’s latest assessment.
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The prices of major steel products including rebar, hot-rolled coil and billet in China’s domestic market soared immediately after the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday over February 18-19, ignoring the fact that finished steel stocks had built up substantially over the holiday, suggesting the overall market optimism on the domestic steel demand in the near term, Mysteel Global noted.
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The prices of iron ore and coke in China gained immediately when the country was back to work on February 18 from the one-week Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday over February 11-17, as the market was rather confident in the revival in demand from the Chinese steel mills soon, especially on noting that some Chinese steel producers had brought their blast furnaces back online during the holiday after the completion of maintenance.
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The slowdown in transporting coke across China during the Chinese New Year break over February 11-17 ended the sustained decline of coke stocks at Chinese coke makers seen over the past few months. As of February 18, total inventories of the raw material held by the 230 independent coking plants sampled by Mysteel had hit a six-month high of 843,900 tonnes, swelling by 118% from the previous survey conducted on February 4, data showed.
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The blast furnace (BF) capacity utilization rate among China’s 247 steel mills gained another 1.25 percentage points from January 29-February 4 to 92.19% over February 5-18, as some mills have resumed their blast furnace operations after the maintenance, Mysteel’s latest survey showed.
