Prices for seaborne iron ore pellets and concentrate went down in the week ended Friday July 23 amid a downtrend in the wider market for the steelmaking raw material.
Fastmarkets iron ore indices
Iron ore pellet premium over 65% Fe fines, cfr China: $60.80 per tonne, down $1.20 per tonne.
65% Fe blast furnace pellet, cfr Qingdao: $295.27 per tonne, down $8.96 per tonne.
66% Fe concentrate, cfr Qingdao: $242.09 per tonne, down $5.29 per tonne.
Key drivers
Sentiment in the iron ore market weakened further during the week due to anticipated steel production cuts for the rest of 2021. These expectations depressed prices for iron ore fines, as well as those for pellets and concentrate, sources said.
Iron ore prices are responding to concrete information about the steel output cuts emerging from several provinces in China, which depressed the outlook for long-term demand, an analyst in Shanghai said.
The sharp price decreases for iron ore fines last week spilled over to...