Dec. 23 India’s iron-ore prices for cash sales to China may gain about 5 percent next month as demand rises in the world’s biggest buyer of the steelmaking material.
Prices may climb from the prevailing $110 a metric ton 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 percent 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 percent, the biggest increase in six straight weeks, to a record $111.50 a ton 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 ton as of Dec. 18, according to the Steel Index.
Iron-ore imports by China in November reached 51.1 million tons, the customs office said on its Web site on Dec. 11. That compares with 45.5 million tons in October and a record 64.6 million tons in September, according to data on the Bloomberg.
China may import 70 percent of its iron-ore needs this year, compared with 50 percent last year, Baosteel’s Chairman Xu Lejiang said on Dec. 3. Contract prices for iron ore may rise 15 percent to 20 percent next year to the second-highest on record, China International Capital Corp. said on Nov. 17.
Source : bloomberg.com