hold on tight boys this is very very ugly, page-46

pricing iron ore isn't as absolute as buying a kg of apples down at coles.

if you've got 200,000 tonnes of iron ore on a boat that's costing you $70,000 per day sometimes you'll sell at a discount just to shift it onto the wharf. if you've got someone wanting to buy 50,000 tonnes of fines and they see the 50,000 tonnes of lump and prefer that, the chances are you'll sell the lump rather than sell nothing. this is the sort of pressure suppliers are seeing, but not many will own up to it in a 1/4ly report. european steel product prices are dropping, freight rates dropping

the wind has changed in china, and india isn't there yet. gindalbie's boss is saying all is sweet, but then he's trying to sell a $1.5bn project - he isn't going to say its all gone to jack.

the point is - speculating on iron ore stocks for easier $$$ is taking a break. now it's all about how big your marbles are, and i'm not sure that fmg's carrying a big enough pair of marbles in its trousers.