Verdict:
• Short-run Neutral.
Macro:
• According to data from the China National Bureau of Statistics, from January to June, industrial enterprises above designated size in China achieved a total profit of 351.103 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.5%, with a growth rate 0.1% faster than from January to May period. Among them, from January to June, the total profit loss of the ferrous smelting and rolling processing industry narrowed to 310 million yuan.
• US June PCE up 2.6%, refreshed lowest since March 2021, above market expected 2.5% previously.
Iron Ore Key Indicators:
• Platts62 $101.95, +2.25, MTD $106.76. Iron ore price potentially saw support as physical market became active during the late half of last week. There was a PBF trade at $102.65 for 170,000 mt. The MACF was traded at $98.5, which was higher than $96.25 traded on the previous day.
SGX Iron Ore 62% Futures& Options Open Interest (Jul 26th)
• Futures 122,995,700 tons(Increase 1,599,400 tons)
• Options 165,269,000 tons(Increase 1,774,000 tons)
Steel Key Indicators:
• China HRC SS400 FOB Tianjin down $5 at $507/t last week.
• China blast furnace utilisation rate at 89.61%, down 0.02% on the week, down 0.22% on the year.
Coal Indicators:
• The buyers dominated the market as continuous lower bids pulled down the offers and index. The FOB Australia coking coal down $3 at $218 last Friday, however buyers indicated bids for unknow sourced PMV at $210- 215.
• Tangshan started the first round of price decrease on physical coke by 50-55 yuan/ton after two rounds of price hike by 200-220 yuan/ton previously.