Prices rangebound as producers lift supply

摘要

Seaborne iron ore prices continue to stay rangebound with most of the action taking place in the way impurities are assessed. The S&P Global Platts 62% IODEX benchmark averaged $64.80/mt CFR China, compared with $65.95/mt in May and $65.27/mt in April. Iron ore prices have largely decoupled from Chinese steel prices which continue to stay extremely strong. Iron ore port stocks have fallen to around 150 million mt but prices have found some recent support on lower inventories held by mills. Though mills in northern China's Tangshan city have been subject to restrictions on the operations of blast furnaces during July 10-31 as part of efforts to improve local air quality, the appetite of mills for raw materials in eastern China was not impacted much.