Extract from yesterday via sh, apologies if old news, Mark...

Extract from yesterday via sh, apologies if old news,

Mark Eames, chairman of iron ore developer Magnetite Mines (ASX:MGT) and a former executive at the world’s largest iron ore companies, thinks the supply side of the market is tighter than many people realise.

He says a small disruption or accelerated demand for steel from a Chinese Government trying to hit an ambitious 5.5% economic growth target through the back half of 2022 could trigger upside for iron ore.

“We’ve already seen steel production at very high levels and I’m certainly not in the business of predicting iron ore prices,” Eames told *.

“But I think at the moment there is more upside than downside in terms of the current trading conditions.

“If we’re seeing a significant stimulus, or indeed there’s another supply disruption anywhere, the iron ore markets are finely balanced and it would only take either a small disruption on the supply side or a relatively small increment on the demand side to really push those prices up significantly.”

Supply disruptions have already been felt this year with heavy rain in Brazil and Covid cases in Australia hampering first quarter exports in the seaborne market, while Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatens to take around 30% of the market for high grade DRI pellets out of circulation.