Ferrous Market
– MySteel 45 ports iron ore inventories at 127.63 million tonnes, up 3.48 million tonnes w-o-w. Daily evacuation 3.13 million tonnes, up 47,700 tonnes w-o-w. Australia iron ore 60.30 million tonnes, up 1.72 million tonnes w-o-w. Brazil iron ore 39.39 million tonnes, up 2.39 million tonnes w-o-w. 149 ships at ports, down 2.
– Mysteel researched 247 blast furnace operation rate at 87.50%, down 0.78% w-o-w. Utilisation rate 92.47%, up 0.13% w-o-w. Daily pig iron production 2.46 million tonnes, up 3,400 tonnes w-o-w.
– FMG published Q1 iron ore delivery up 5% y-o-y. FMG is prepared to reach the yearly delivery target at 175-180 million tonnes. Last financial Q4 ended in September, FMG iron ore delivery from Perth at 44.3 million tonnes, last year 42.2 million tonnes.
– Steel mills carried out maintainence plan majorly during October and November. MEE(Ministry of Ecology and Environment) announced will push on the pollution protection action during this winter.
Downstream
– China National Bureau of Statistics: Q3 China industry utilization rate at 76.7%, a high level in current years, up 2.3% from Q2, up 0.3% y-o-y.
SGX Iron Ore 62% Futures& Options Open Interest(Oct 29th)
– Futures 76,886,500 tonnes(increase 461,100 tonnes)
– Options 100,794,300 tonnes(increase 2,015,000 tonnes)
Verdict
– Short-term neutral.