Daily iron ore price update (on like Donkey Kong)

Friday 13 August 2021

The ferrous complex was weak on August 12, 2021 as spot tumbled and paper was hit overnight. Steel has still not updated:

A chart today from UBS gives us great insight into what is happening in Chinese steel demand:

As you can see, both steel and iron ore inventories have been roughly stable in China in recent weeks as steel output has plunged. This tells us that the huge slump in steel output is actually coming from underlying demand, not apparent demand via mandated steel output cuts.

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About the author

David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.