A total of 1.065 million mt of iron ores was traded for the week ended Mar 19, up 19.93% on-week from previous week trade volumes, amid the output curb in Tangshan.
Thus, the market participants were spooked by output curb, which affected the buying interests for raw materials.
During the week, the PBF accounted the largest market share at 38%, then it was followed by Yandi fines at 18%, and finally BRBF at 16%.
More buying interests for medium and high grade fines
Buyers are seeking for medium and high-grade fines amid sintering controls, and market participants expected better demand for high grade fines in view of better steel margins.
BRBF also remained popular among mills due to their price competitiveness, while there was some support for low grade fines, like Indian fines amid the lower coke prices environment.
However, some southern-China based mills were cautious in iron ore procurement as they expected more price corrections ahead.
More demand for pellets
Pellet demand is also expected to rise despite the usual seasonal lulls period of April, supported by high steel margins and strict environmental regulations in steel production.
As Chinese mills were heard to increase their pellet utilization in the blast furnace mix, due to the higher lump premium from tight supply.
Moreover, the steel margins remained healthy due to high steel demand and limited steel output, thus some trade sources cited steel margins over RMB 800/mt for some steel products.
