Iron ore edged up on Friday to reclaim the US$100 a tonne mark but fell short of the previous week’s closing high.
The price of 62% fines finished the week at US$100.90 a tonne on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) trading platform. This represented a daily gain of 1.45% from Thursday’s sub-$100 close of US$99.46 a tonne.
However, the price remained below the previous Friday’s closing level of US$103.81, marking a decline of around 3%.
Traders appeared indifferent to another robust import figure for China in July, which totaled 102.8 million tonnes.
There was a small glimmer of positive news late in the week: a second consecutive weekly decline in Chinese port iron ore stockpiles. The Mysteel website reported that iron ore stocks at China’s 45 major ports totaled 150 million tonnes, down 462,500 tonnes (equivalent to two shiploads from BHP, Fortescue, or Rio Tinto).
Despite the decrease, stocks remained 21% higher than their level a year ago.
The release of July’s crude steel production figures is expected this week. In June, crude steel output reached 91.61 million tonnes, a slight 0.3% increase compared to June 2023.