Find below the iron ore charts for March 17, 2014:
Nothing terribly inspiring there. A little bounce in rebar but futures fell to new record lows. There’s no sign of restocking in the price action of paper or physical markets for iron ore. The Baltic Dry capesize component rose another 1% yesterday, hinting at some demand but not tearing the roof off, as it would on a full-blown restock:
Port inventories for last week are out too and were up another 1.35 million tonnes to an hysterical new high of 106.35 million tonnes:
From Reuters it’s all bearishness:
“Some steel mills have cut production capacity because of weak demand and tighter cashflow,” said an iron ore trader in China’s eastern Shandong province.
Chinese banks have cut lending by as much as 20 percent to sectors plagued by excess capacity including steel, part of Beijing’s efforts to reform an economy that in three decades relied on cheap debt to expand at a double-digit pace.
That is tightening cash among Chinese steel mills which are also taking a hit from slower demand. Top listed steelmaker Baoshan Iron and Steel kept its prices for major products flat for April after hiking some prices this month.
…”Stocks at the ports are still very high. I think the market has room to drop further,” said an iron ore trader in Tianjin, a key delivery point for iron ore into China.
“Some of the owners of the stocks are trying to hold onto their cargo until the market recovers.”
…”More cargoes are coming to China but consumption is weak. The supply pressure on prices may continue,” said the Shandong-based trader.
Same, same.
