share price forecasting, page-49

More on the current iron ore prices and forecasting. Handy to note some increase in market valuation of late. The US needs to break 13000 before investors rush back into the small - mid cap resource sector IMO.

Chinese mills restocking ore, but in small volumes

* China Dec iron ore imports near 10-month high
* Heavy rains hit some Vale operations in Brazil

SINGAPORE, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Offer prices for
imported iron ore in China edged higher on Tuesday as steel
mills boosted stockpiles, although an unclear outlook for steel
demand kept buying interest in check.
Offers for Australian, Brazilian and Indian iron ore rose a
dollar per tonne, said Chinese consultancy Umetal.
Australian Pilbara fines were quoted at $140-$142 a tonne,
Newman fines were at $143-$145 and Indian 63.5/63-grade was
offered at $146-$148, said Umetal. The prices include freight
cost.
Iron ore with 62 percent iron content was steady at $140 a
tonne on Monday, cost and freight delivered to China, according
to Steel Index .IO62-CNI=SI.
"There is still restocking taking place, but in small lots
of 30,000 to 50,000 tonnes. The key question is we need to find
the customer who hasn't restocked and still get a good price,"
said a Hong Kong-based iron ore trader who sells ore to mills in
mainland China.
Firmer steel futures in Shanghai may encourage
more steel producers to secure spot iron ore cargoes. The
most-traded May rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange
closed up 0.7 percent at 4,215 yuan a tonne, its third
gain in four sessions.
Traders are looking to a tender by Australian miner BHP
Billiton on Tuesday for price direction,
although some are hoping the continued restocking of iron ore by
Chinese mills ahead of the Lunar New Year break in late January
will support prices that fell 19 percent in 2011.
A Reuters poll in mid-December showed China's iron ore
imports would rise to a record 720 million tonnes this year,
reflecting Beijing's continuing efforts to invest in public
housing and infrastructure.
China's iron ore imports rose 10.9 percent to 686.06 million
tonnes in 2011, with December purchases at 64.09 million tonnes,
down marginally from a 10-month high of 64.20 million tonnes in
November.
"The December number remains high, that's a really good
volume. But you're going to get to a point where it starts to
get harder for the Brazilians and Australians (to ship more iron
ore) based on seasonality, so you'll probably start to see some
near-term pullback in volumes over the first quarter," said
Graeme Train, commodity analyst at Macquarie in Shanghai.
"Mills have been restocking a little bit so that's pushed
inventory cover up to 35 days or so, although this time last
year it was 45 days so they haven't restocked as aggressively as
they did last year."
Potentially tighter supplies should also support iron ore
prices.
Heavy rains forced the world's top iron ore exporter Vale
to temporarily halt extraction at some mines
in Brazil's most important ore-producing state.
But a Vale spokesperson said the "occasional" shutdowns in
the state of Minas Gerais have not affected iron ore exports or
the company's production goal for the year.

Shanghai rebar futures and iron ore indexes at 0701 GMT

Contract Last Change Pct Change
SHANGHAI REBAR* 4215 30.00 0.72
PLATTS 62 PCT INDEX 143 1.00 0.70
THE STEEL INDEX 62 PCT INDEX 140 0.00 0.00
METAL BULLETIN INDEX 140.71 0.30 0.21

*In yuan/tonne
#Index in dollars/tonne, show close for the previous trading day

(Editing by Sugita Katyal)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/10/markets-ironore-idUSL3E8CA14N20120110?feedType=RSS&feedName=basicMaterialsSector&rpc=43