Iron ore prices lowest since October on Chinese stockpiles

Saturday, 18 Feb 2012

Bloomberg reported that iron ore dropped for a seventh day, the longest losing run in more than three months, as the biggest consumer China may slow buying because of increased stockpiles.

Data from The Steel Index showed that ore with 62% iron content at the Chinese port of Tianjin fell 1.6% to USD 137.40 per metric tonne on February 17th 2012. Prices last had a losing run that long in the period ended Oct. 28.

Mr Daniel Hynes director of commodity research at Citigroup Inc in Sydney said that “They’re certainly not as aggressive as we’ve come to expect at this time of year.”

He said that a price rally late last year may have been down to re stocking.

According to data from Mysteel.com, inventories at 30 Chinese ports totaled 100.21 million tonnes last week, about 32% more than a year earlier. Steel demand in China normally increases after the weeklong Lunar New Year holidays as construction resumes. The break ended on January 29 this year.

(Sourced from Bloomberg)