Market Verdict on Iron Ore：
• Neutral.
Macro：
• The Bank of England announced a 25 basis point increase in its benchmark interest rate to 4.25%, in line with market expectations. This is the 11th consecutive interest rate hike by the Bank of England since December 2021. The Bank of England said signs of continued inflation would require more interest rate hikes.
• According to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics, in the first two months of 2023, China’s excavator output was 40816 units, a year-on-year decrease of 38.9%.
Iron Ore Key Indicators:
• Platts62 $120.30, -1.10, MTD $127.97. The bids disappeared again as the bearish sentiments on the market. Thus it is hard to negotiate on fixed basis. However the low spread between MB65 and P62 attracted buyer, in particular on float price. Market participants believed that the lower index and would keep supporting high grade.
SGX Iron Ore 62% Futures& Options Open Interest (Mar 23rd)
• Futures 111,562,600 tons(Decrease 374,500 tons)
• Options 106,661,600 tons(Increase 835,000 tons)
Steel Key Indicators：
• According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, China’s crude steel output in January-February was 168.69 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 5.5%. From the perspective of provincial data, there are 5 provinces with a year-on-year increase in crude steel production of more than 20% in January-February.
Coal Indicators：
• Australia FOB coking coal corrected as the growing supply in April laycans.
