Market Verdict on Iron Ore：
• Neutral.
Macro
• Chinese CPI in June up 2.5%, up 0.4% from May, refreshed the highest since August. PPI up 6.1% in June, down 0.3% from May, created eight months consecutive drop.
• U.S. strong June job statistic supported the 75 basis points of interest rate increase in July. Non-agriculture new jobs reached 372,000, beyond expected 268,000 before.
Iron Ore Key Indicators:
• Platts62 $114.05, -0.80, MTD $113.65. Chinese steel mills expected that margin could recover with initiative control on production in June and July. Thus, Chinese blast furnace utilisation rate drop by more than 3% in June on the month. Seaborne float premium on PBF maintained around $0.55 to $0.65 on MOC platform over previous two weeks, however lack of buying interested on float basis cargoes. JMBF cargoes saw ample interests and trades with a $8.7-8.9 discount in current three weeks because the improvement on quality.
SGX Iron Ore 62% Futures& Options Open Interest (Jul 8th)
• Futures 83,275,800 tons(Increase 3,460,600 tons)
• Options 78,428,000 tons(Increase 1,232,500 tons)
Steel Key Indicators
• China 2022 crude steel production target within 1 billion tons, a cut by 40 million tons on the year. MySteel expect the H2 2022 daily pig iron production at 2.1- 2.3 million tons.
Coal Indicators
• Australia PLV market saw huge correction during this week. FOB PLV corrected $42 for the last three days to $258. The significant drop was related to an Unbranded HCCA cargo offer down $37 at $253 while the most competitive bid currently stayed at $240.
