A total of 740,000 mt of iron ores was traded for the week ended Feb 26, as the market welcomed the return of Chinese trade participants from holidays.
During the week, the trading activities began sluggishly and thinned as mills gradually resumed to the full operation capacity to pre-holidays level.
Nevertheless, the PBF accounted the largest market share at 51% for the week, then it was followed by Yandi fines at 26%, and finally by BRBF at 23%.
Output curb in Tangshan after pollution alert
This week saw the strict implementation of production cut in Tangshan that resulted in lesser feedstock purchases among mills.
However, most mills were heard to have sufficient inventories at hands and most of mills’ buying preference focused on medium grade mainstream fines like PBF and MAC fines, due to their liquidity.
Though, some mills were heard to be seeking low grade fines for cost saving purposes against high coke prices, while some traders expected better demand for higher grade fines due to their cost efficiency in blast furnace mix.
Rising pellet demand on speculation
Pellet demand had risen recently on speculative demand, as trade participants expected higher end-user utilization of pellet in near term.
As mills were heard to reduce lump usage in blast furnaces in replacing them with the cheaper pellets to save costs.
However, lump demand remains supported due to tight supply, while the recent rally in pellet prices might cause more end-users to use lump as alternative.
