Iron ore rebounds, scrap lags

Seaborne iron ore price rebounded on Thursday on the back of a sharp recovery in futures prices. Scrap is also stabilising after the sharp declines of the last week.

The Kallanish KORE 62% Fe index gained $1.66/t to $195.45/dry metric tonne cfr Qingdao. The Kallanish KORE 65% Fe index recovered $1.74/t to $228.08/dmt cfr, but the KORE 58% Fe index slipped $0.88/t to $170.94/dmt cfr. 

On the Dalian Commodity Exchange September iron ore settled down CNY 14/t to CNY 1,021/t ($158.77/t), while on the Singapore Exchange June 62% Fe futures settled up $10.64/t at $183.04/t. The same contract for 65% Fe and 58% Fe futures settled up $11.09/t at $214.12/t, and down $2.23/t at $157.73/t respectively.

In Tangshan, billet prices gained CNY 30/t to CNY 4,730/t. Scrap prices meanwhile are stabilising more slowly. 6mm+ heavy scrap slipped CNY 9/t to CNY 3,463/t delivered to the Yangtze River Delta

Amid all the speculative volatility in prices, fundamentals have been partly forgotten. China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) data this week showed however that steel output saw its first decline in months in mid-May. Average daily crude steel output at CISA members fell 1.59% from early May to 2.38 million tonnes/day. That was still 14.4% higher year-on-year however.

Tomas Gutierrez UK