Ferrous Market
– South Africa invested 250 million U.S. dollars into a new iron ore separation method(UHDMS) to increase the quality of Sishen mines, which expected to increase the mining cycle by 4 years to the year 2039. The project was approved by Kumba commission.
– Tangshan 10 sample steel mills pig iron before tax 3218 yuan/tonne, billet cost 4070 yuan/tonne, up 64 yuan/tonne w-o-w. Gross profit 160 yuan/tonne, down 86 yuan/tonne.
– MySteel Rebar Inventory: Rebar production 3.19 million tonnes, up 3.25% w-o-w. Mills inventory 5.15 million tonnes, up 0.57% w-o-w. Circulation inventory 12.22 million tonnes, up 21.12% w-o-w.
Macro
– Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong Province financial department started to investigate private loans which flowing into house market.
– U.S. SEC announced decrease the SEC membership fee from 0.00221% to 0.00051%.
SGX Iron Ore 62% Futures& Options Open Interest(Feb 24th)
– Futures 85,438,000 tonnes(decrease 118,900 tonnes)
– Options 54,552,200 tonnes(increase 1,245,000 tonnes)
Verdict
– Short-term neutral.