fundamentals, page-4

Chinese demand for iron ore has not dropped as as a few mention. Infact this article was just filed in the Financial times yesterday:


It was a single cargo of iron ore arriving in Shandong Province on December 19 that pushed China’s total trade for 2014 over the milestone $400bn mark, turning the nation into the world’s largest trader of goods for the first time in centuries.
The strength of Chinese iron ore demand confounded analysts last year, with 2013 imports rising 10 per cent year-on-year to 820m tonnes, as steel mills defied expectations with an 8 per cent rise in output, according to estimates by the state-backed industry association.
“Consensus expectations for Chinese steel demand and production are too low,” said Christopher LaFemina of investment bank Jefferies, who argued that China’s steel production would not peak for another decade due to continued demand from growing cities.

And this in the SMH today:

China imported a total 820 million tonnes of iron ore in 2013, surging 10 per cent from 2012 when arrivals rose 8.43 per cent to 743.55 million tonnes.
Chinese steel output climbed 8 per cent to all-time high of 774.6 million tonnes in 2013, according to data from the China Iron & Steel Association.
Some analysts expected China's iron ore imports to rise further this year as increased overseas supply replaces higher-cost domestic iron ore mines, boosting imports.
"Iron ore imports may surge by another 100 million tonnes this year, as increased lower-cost supplies from overseas will replace expensive domestic ore and China's steel output will keep growing," said Du Hui, an analyst with Qilu Securities in Shanghai.
The Metallurgical Industry Planning and Research Institute, an industry group that provides consultancy for government policies, said last month that imports were expected to climb to 850 million tonnes this year.

The is no doubt that the Chinese will keep consuming IO this year and for the foreseeable future. Fridays FMG price was just too tempting, I bought in..