iron ore spot price to go to us$200/ton, page-2

Maybe the IO spot price won't go to US$200/ton this week, but it will before the end of May, as the Chinese are not prepared to pay this much. At least not for the next few weeks.

India iron ore export prices miss USD 200 mark

Posted April 23, 2010 9:45 pm

It seems that the party is finally getting over as news have started to trickle in about softening in Indian iron ore export prices to China over last 2 to 3 days.

As per unconfirmed reports, few 63.5/63 cargos were finalized at USD 186 per tonne to USD 188 per tonne CFR by Chinese steel mills and are to slip further by the end of the week, since the steel mills are reluctant to pay above USD 190 per tonne.

Anticipating weakness in coming days Chinese traders are reported to have started liquidating their positions putting further downward pressure on market.

Bloomberg reported that the similar sentiment is echoed by UBS AG which in its latest report said that iron ore spot prices, trading at a 21 month high, may drop about 30% in coming weeks on concern China is taking steps to slow the pace of economic growth.

Mr Tom Price Sydney based analyst of UBS said that Cash prices for 63% iron ore into China, the biggest buyer, from India may drop to USD 130 a dry metric tonne, including freight.

Mr Price said Iron ores various high and rising spot signals are now threatened by a range of bear factors, including a growing expectation that Chinas government will move more aggressively to curb economic activity. New policies targeting iron ore price speculation and rising steelmaker costs may also cause prices to decline.

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