Key indexes near record high

19th January 2011
SINGAPORE – Key iron-ore price indexes were on track to hit record highs on Wednesday, aided by strong Chinese buying ahead of the Lunar New Year and persistent worries over tight supply.
Some Chinese steel mills continued to restock the steelmaking material for fear prices would go up further while some traders were adopting a more cautious stance with prices at near record highs, traders said.
The Platts 62% iron-ore index rose 1,4% to $185 a ton, cost and freight delivered to China, on Tuesday.
That is just a dollar away from the $186 posted on Platts on April 20 last year, the highest since the reference price provider began publishing daily iron ore prices in June 2008.
The Steel Index's (TSI) 62% benchmark edged up 60c to $181,40 a ton, also near its record $184,80 reached last April 23.
High-grade Carajas iron ore fines from top producer Vale were offered at above $200 a ton on Tuesday, TSI said in a note.
Rising prices of steelmaking materials like iron ore as well as coking coal, after floods ravaged top producer Australia, kept Shanghai steel rebar futures trading near record highs.
The most active May rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange touched a high of 4 931 yuan a ton on Wednesday, a tad off the record 4 933 yuan touched on Monday.
The outlook for the global steel sector is stable with the worst behind the industry after the economic downturn, although recovery is still relatively slow and not expected to accelerate, Standard & Poor's lead analyst Andrey Nikolaev said on Tuesday.
Edited by: Reuters