APAC Resources see iron ore buyers in Asia

Tuesday, 25 Oct 2011

APAC Resources is looking for iron ore buyers in Asia to counter the effects of an economic slowdown in the mainland.

The SAR based firm is mainly involved in natural resources investment and iron ore exports to China, where its customers are steel plants in Shanxi, Shandong, Jiangxi and Jiangsu provinces.

Chief executive officer Mr Andrew Ferguson said prices of commodities are not immune from the financial crisis. But Mr Ferguson said such prices are high compared with a falling equity market.

Mr Ferguson said "We would not cut the price like other iron ore giants last week, adding buyers which are second-tier steel factories, rely on our high quality products. He expects iron ore prices to hover around USD 150 per tonne to USD 160 per tonne for the remainder of the year. The spot price of iron ore slumped to a 12-month low of USD 153.40 per tonne on October 17.”

APAC Resources also said annual production capacity at Mount Gibson, one of the largest listed iron ore producers in Australia will rise to 10 million tonnes from the present seven million tonnes as a new mine, Extension Hill and starts production in the fourth quarter.

sourced TheStandard

Iron Ore-Prices rise for first time in a month as buyers return

Fri Mar 18, 2011 3:34am GMT

* Falling ore stockpiles spur Chinese buying
* Forward swaps extend gains
By Manolo Serapio Jr

SINGAPORE, March 18 (Reuters) - Spot iron ore prices rose for the first time in a month and offers remained firm on Friday as Chinese steel mills returned to the market to replenish
dwindling stockpiles.

Prices for the steelmaking raw material had fallen 15 percent since hitting record highs near $200 a tonne in mid-February as rising raw material cost and slow steel demand turned off top buyer China.

But some Chinese mills are looking at increasing steel exports to the region as production at quake-hit Japan could slow and domestic demand may spike when reconstruction starts.
Japan was Asia's biggest steel exporter last year.


"We had always thought that the dearth of Chinese buying in recent weeks would not last - steel production rates continue to record new highs and iron ore stocks can only sustain production
for perhaps a month or two," Commonwealth Bank of Australia said in a note.

China's daily crude steel output rose 0.5 percent from January to a record high of 1.94 million tonnes in February.

Inventories of imported iron ore at major Chinese ports fell to 80.4 million tonnes last week after climbing above 81 million tonnes towards the end of February.

Iron ore indexes, based on spot transactions in China and which global miners use in determining quarterly contract prices, rose on Thursday, the first uptick since they touched record peaks in mid-February.

The Steel Index's 62 percent benchmark .IO62-CNI=SI rose 30 cents to $163.90 a tonne, including freight, and Platts' 62 percent index IODBZ00-PLT jumped $1.50 to $166.50.

Metal Bulletin's 62 percent gauge.IO62-CNO=MB edged up 60 cents to $163.49.

Those gains may be sustained on Friday as offers from sellers remained firm, with Indian 63.5 percent iron ore quoted at $170-$172 a tonne, according to Chinese consultancy Mysteel.

"Sentiment is improving and there are more inquiries," Mysteel said.

"Iron ore buyers have come back because a lot of Chinese steel mills are very, very low on iron ore inventory and they now need to buy to sustain themselves," said an iron ore trader
in Shanghai.

"But will they come buy and disappear again which would make the price slide further or will they stay for sometime which will help prices rebound? That is still an unanswered question."

Further gains in iron ore forward swap prices on Thursday suggested confidence is slowly returning to the market.

The Singapore Exchange-cleared April contract climbed 3 percent to $157.80 a tonne, May rose 2 percent to $154.80 and June gained 1.8 percent to $152.40.

(Reporting by Manolo Serapio Jr.; Editing by Manash Goswami,sourced:Reuters)

Iron Ore-Prices steady near record highs, Aussie ports reopen

Thursday Jan 27, 2011
* Buying activity slows as Lunar New Year nears
* Offers firm as Indian freight cost up
* Australia's Port Hedland reopens after cyclone (Adds trader's comment, swaps, details)
By Manolo Serapio Jr.
SINGAPORE, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Spot iron ore prices remained firm on Thursday as key indexes steadied near record highs, supported by tight Indian cargoes even as Chinese buying stalled ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday next week.
Key ports at top iron ore exporter Australia reopened after briefly shutting due to a cyclone, helping calm supply concerns.
Iron ore exports from India, already falling thanks to a ban on shipments from its southern Karnataka state, are likely to get costlier after India's railway operator raised freight cost on iron ore exports by 50 percent from Thursday as it rides on rising prices of the steelmaking ingredient.

India is the world's third-largest iron ore exporter, although its shipments have dropped for the sixth straight month in December because of the Karnataka ban.
Indian ore with 63.5 percent iron content was being quoted around $193-$195 a tonne, cost and freight to China, up from about $190 earlier in the week, although takers were scarce, traders said.
"The physical market is still strong because of tight supply but there's no buying interest," said an iron ore trader in Singapore.
"If somebody has to sell a cargo within this week they have to lower the price. Otherwise, those who have cleared their positions and are not in a hurry to sell will wait until after Chinese New Year."
China's week-long Spring Festival holiday begins on Feb. 2.

Platts' 62 percent iron ore index IODBZ00-PLT was flat at $186 a tonne, cost and freight delivered to China, on Wednesday, just a tad off the record $186.50 hit last week.
The Steel Index (TSI) 62 percent benchmark .IO62-CNI=SI ticked up 20 cents to $185.60 a tonne, just off the record $185.70 touched last Friday.
Metal Bulletin's 62 percent gauge .IO62-CNO=MB slipped 27 cents to $183.21 a tonne after hitting a record $184.43 on Monday.

PORT HEDLAND REOPENS
"Chinese market participants have their minds firmly on the impending Spring Festival celebrations," TSI said in a note, adding the market was "extremely quiet" on Wednesday "with very few Indian cargoes moving and little if anything from Australia with Port Hedland closed temporarily by a cyclone."
Port Hedland, Australia's major iron ore export terminal, reopened to all shipping traffic on Thursday. Rio Tinto , the world's No. 2 iron ore supplier, said it was resuming normal operations at its Port of Dampier iron ore terminal in northwest Australia after a passing cyclone briefly forced it to restrict port operations.

Prices of iron ore forward swaps <0#sgxios:> rose on Wednesday although levels were below the current indexes.
The Singapore Exchange-cleared February contract gained a dollar to $179.50 a tonne, March added 22 cents to $169.10 and April was up 55 cents at $161.80.
Singapore and rival bourses in the United States and Europe are competing for business in the iron ore swaps market, hoping to attract steelmakers into hedging iron ore costs after the industry moved to a quarterly contract pricing system afer the collapse of a decades-old annual benchmark scheme.
But the increasing need for a more transparent pricing mechanism has India and Singapore racing to launch the world's first iron ore futures market this year.

(Reporting by Manolo Serapio Jr, sourced Reuters)

Iron ore prices inching towards USD 200 mark

Tuesday, 25 Jan 2011
A fusillade of concurrent events keeps the fire in iron ore market unabated. The already outstretched supply has been scuttled by the Orissa government’s ban on 23 miners. The cargo movement is restricted from Orissa owing to road construction going on. With the supply from Australia being already tight owing to unabated torrential rains there is barely any respite for the buyers.And the final nail has been the hike ob USD 11 per tonne effective today for rail transport in India.Traders are making merry taking pot shots at every opportunity to hike prices as the on the eve of spring holidays as buying will be hamstrung. The buyers are eager to stockpile on the eve of holidays anticipating dearer purchase after words. Fe 63.5/63% has already breached USD 190 per tonne mark with a climb of 1% on the opening of week 3 and USD 200 per tonne is very visible very soon.

Grade	Change
Fe 63.5/63%	0.6%
Fe 63.5/62.5%	0.6%
Fe 63/62 %	1.2%
Fe 62 / 61%	1.3%
Fe 61 / 60 %	1.3%
Fe 60/59 %	2.1%
Fe 59 / 58 %	2.3%
Fe 58 / 57%	2.4%
Fe 57/56 %	2.6%
Fe 56/55%	1.9%
Fe 55/54 %	2.0%
Fe 54/ 53 %	2.2%
Fe 53/52 %	2.5%
Fe 52/51 %	1.4%

Change is on Jan 24th as compared to 21st Jan 2011
According to latest report the inventory level at 19 ports among China surged to 80.9 million tonnes, first time to surpass the 80 million tonnes mark since 2007 and up 1.39 million tonnes compared to last week.
The accuracy and the speed of reporting changes is well appreciated by not only Indian miners, but by global iron ore majors as well as Chinese mills as many of them have subscribed to this service to maintain another but solid listening post as far as Indian spot market is concerned. Sourced:steelguru