India’s iron-ore prices for cash sales to China may gain about 5 per cent next month as demand rises in the world’s biggest buyer of the steelmaking material.
Prices may climb from the prevailing $110 a tonne by the first week of January, R K Sharma, secretary general of the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries, said today. China is the main buyer of Indian iron ore in the spot market.
India’s iron-ore exports in the first seven months of this financial year jumped 21 per cent as steelmakers in China, spurred by the government’s $586 billion stimulus package, increased raw material purchases.
Weekly cash prices for iron ore imported by China from India gained 5.2 per cent, the biggest increase in six straight weeks, to a record $111.50 a tonne last week, according to Metal Bulletin. “The trend is strong and this year will close on a positive note,” Sharma said in an interview.
The cash price for Australian iron ore also reached a record $107.40 a tonne as of December 18, according to the Steel Index. Iron-ore imports by China in November reached 51.1 million tonnes, the customs office said on its website on December 11. That compares with 45.5 million tonnes in October and a record 64.6 million tonnes in September, according to data on the Bloomberg.
China may import 70 per cent of its iron-ore needs this year, compared with 50 per cent last year, Baosteel’s Chairman Xu Lejiang said on December 3. Contract prices for iron ore may rise 15 per cent to 20 per cent next year to the second-highest on record.
