Market Verdict on Iron Ore：
• Neutral to bearish.
Macro：
• China exported 3.32 million automobiles in 2022, up 56.8% on the year. Import 878,000 vehicles, down 6.2% on the year. China produced 27.02 million automobiles, up 3.4% on the year. Sales at 26.86 million vehicles, up 2.1% on the year.
• The initial value of the U.S. Consumer Confidence Index of the University of Michigan in January was 64.6, which was the highest since April 2022, est. 60.5, last 59.7. The one-year inflation rate of the U.S. in January is expected to be 4%, a new low since June 2021, with an expected 4.3%, and the previous value of 4.4%.
Iron Ore Key Indicators:
• Platts62 $127.00, +3.35, MTD $120.79. The market are preparing Brazil iron ores since the significant decreased deliveries in current weeks. IOCJ and IOC6 are both popular on seaborne market. Downstream market of China approaching an end before Chinese New Year in late January. The winter iron ore stock for Chinese mills entered a end with Chinese New Year looming, with most of stocks were purchased in portside, with flexible size and time. Steel mills suffered negative production margin because the uptick of raw materials and low steel sales. The market expected a correction on iron ore with lower marginal demand.
SGX Iron Ore 62% Futures& Options Open Interest (Jan 13th)
l Futures 104,051,800 tons(Increase 2,502,900 tons)
• Options 78,365,100 tons(Increase 2,460,000 tons)
Steel Key Indicators：
• Mysteel researched 247 steel mills operation rate 75.368%, up 1.04% on the week, down 0.09% on the year. Blast utilisation rate 82.56%, up 0.63% on the week, down 2.67% on the year.
Coal Indicators：
• The FOB Australia market improved to $309/mt, supported by an 80,000mt PMV Goonyella trade at $310.