Iron ore prices reached their highest level in almost a year in July, supported by resilient demand from China while steel markets elsewhere remained weak. The benchmark price hit $112.40 per tonne earlier in the month, an 11-month high and a rise of 39% from $79.60 per tonne on 23 March, when the pandemic was at its most disruptive in Asia. Chinese steel mills kept buying heavily as domestic construction and infrastructure work accelerated, offsetting much softer demand in the rest of Asia and in Europe. China imported 101.68 million tonnes of iron ore in June, a 33-month high, showing how quickly its appetite for the steelmaking raw material had returned. The strength in China left the seaborne iron ore market broadly balanced, even though demand outside China was still subdued. Analysts nevertheless warned that the rally could lose momentum if Chinese steel demand cooled or if supply from major exporters recovered more quickly than expected. For miners, the rebound was a sharp turnaround from the spring sell-off, when prices had fallen with the first wave of lockdowns.
Source: MetalMiner — https://agmetalminer.com/2020/07/27/iron-ore-is-being-undermined-by-slowing-steel-demand/
Photo: Wikimedia Commons (freely licensed).