iron ore news, page-24

The reality is that AGO will be around for a long time. Its production cost are about that of FMG without the debt burden, and at around $50 a ton just above those of RIO and BHP.


ASIA IRON ORE: Spot prices strengthen on mill need to restock

Singapore (Platts)--25 Mar 2013/747 am EDT/1147 GMT

Spot seaborne iron ore prices gained more traction Monday as mills displayed stronger buying interest for the steelmaking raw material due to low inventory levels.

Platts assessed the 62% Fe IODEX up $1.25 to $136/dry mt CFR North China.

Chinese mills were heard to be running quite low on iron ore inventories, having not actively been procuring raw material for the past month and a half.

A Beijing-based trader said the market would see more firmness because an increasing number of Chinese mills were displaying an interest in restocking iron ore.

A large state-owned steelmaker located in Central China said its iron ore stock levels were low, weighing in at only three weeks' worth. "There is a need for us to buy now."

A Singapore-based trader added that some mills were very tight on cash due to poor steel sales, and those who needed to replenish their iron ore inventories would prefer seaborne cargoes which could be purchased using letters of credit, instead of purchasing port stocks for which they would have to fork out cash.

In the meantime, Chinese port stock levels of iron ore were heard to have inched down slightly to about 66.82 million mt, industry sources said. This was down from the 67.23 million mt reported last week. Low port stock levels were also a factor motivating mills to seek out seaborne cargoes to meet their steelmaking requirements.

(P.S There is a bit in the full article for the bears as well)

Full article http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/Metals/6283847