Market Verdict on Iron Ore:
· Iron ore short-run bearish.
Macro
· U.S. president Biden made a concession on the infrastructure investment on 200 million dollars proposed previously.
· U.S. April PPI up 6.2% y-o-y, created the biggest increase from the year 2010, est. 5.8%.
· Tangshan Market Regulation Bureau, National Development and Reform Commission jointly interviewed the Tangshan iron and steel production enterprises the previous overspeculated prices. The private discussion required all iron and steel production enterprises to strictly implement the price law of China, provisions on administrative penalties for price violations and other laws and regulations, strengthen self-discipline, operate in accordance with the law, do not collude with each other, fabricate or spread price increase information, and consciously safeguard the steel market price order and public interests. Violators are subject to suspension on business license, and exposure to market.
Iron Ore Key Indicators:
· Sul Americana de METAIS (SAM), a Brazilian subsidiary controlled by China Hongqiao Group Limited, will obtain an environmental license for its $2.1 billion No. 8 iron ore mine in Minas Gerais state by the end of this year.
· MySteel mills iron ore import inventories at 115.96 million tonnes, up 917,300 tonnes w-o-w. Current mills import daily consumption at 2.99 million tonnes, up 10,800 tonnes w-o-w.
SGX Iron Ore 62% Futures& Options Open Interest (May 13th)
· Futures 83,328,400 tonnes(Increase 2,538,900 tonnes)
· Options 74,064,700 tonnes(Increase 1,682,500 tonnes)
Steel Key Indicators
· Mysteel researched 247 blast furnace operation rate at 80.34%, down 0.13% w-o-w. Utilisation rate 90.87%, up 0.28% w-o-w. Daily pig iron production 2.42 million tonnes, up 7,400 tonnes.
· MySteel researched 18 EAFs construction steel average cost 5242 yuan/tonne, up 453 yuan/tonne.