Ferrous Market
– MySteel 45 ports iron ore inventories at 124.04 million tonnes, up 2.01 million tonnes w-o-w. Daily evacuation 2.97 million tonnes, down 89,900 tonnes w-o-w. Australia iron ore 58.27 million tonnes, up 265,000 tonnes w-o-w. Brazil iron ore 41.26 million tonnes, up 587,500 tonnes w-o-w. 137 ships at ports, up 28.
– Mysteel researched 247 blast furnace operation rate at 85.29%, up 0.52% w-o-w. Utilisation rate 91.68%, up 0.21% w-o-w. Daily pig iron production 2.44 million tonnes, up 5,600 tonnes.
– Xinhua journalists heard from CISA: China will publish benchmark for reusable ferrous including scrap, effective from Jan 1st. The new benchmark indicated linking with international scrap resources and benefit import on scrap and HBI. However not mentioning any quota details.
– Hangzhou construction steel up 100-120 yuan in the morning.
Macro
– Two eastern provinces have restricted electricity usage on some industrial companies, if the temperature is below 3 degree, however this low temperature is normally happen in early morning and evening. EAFs production impact are limited.
– U.S. November new built houses up 1.2% y-o-y, created a nine-month high, outperformed estimation and last month. The data indicated the housing market in U.S. is warming fast.
SGX Iron Ore 62% Futures& Options Open Interest(Dec 17th)
– Futures 75,445,600 tonnes(increase 805,400 tonnes)
– Options 65,262,400 tonnes(increase 240,000 tonnes)
Verdict
– Short-term neutral