Posted on 12 Oct 2021
On October 8, the first business day after the National Day holiday over October 1-7, prices of key steelmaking raw materials including both iron ore and coke strengthened, mainly due to the restocking by the mills after the long break and the remaining constraint in coke supply, Mysteel Global noted.
Over October 1-7, blast furnace capacity utilization rate among China’s 247 steel mills under Mysteel’s survey recovered by 1.25 percentage points on week to 79.94% from a four-week decline, though it was still at a low level.
Iron ore: As of October 8, Mysteel SEADEX 62% Australian Fines recovered to $124.9/dmt CFR Qingdao, or up $8.4/dmt from September 30, the last trading day before the holiday, and Mysteel PORTDEX 62% Australian Fines in Qingdao also gained by Yuan 31/wmt ($4.8/wmt) from September 30 to Yuan 891/wmt FOT and including 13% VAT.
The most-traded January 2022 iron ore contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) closed higher on October 8 too, ending the daytime trading session at Yuan 762.5/dmt, or up Yuan 35.5/dmt from the settlement price on September 30.
Coke: China’s national composite coke price under Mysteel’s assessment gained Yuan 94.9/tonne from September 30 to Yuan 4,073.1/tonne and including the 13% VAT, after remaining unchanged for prior two weeks, as more steelmakers had agreed to pay higher for coke supplies.
DCE’s most-traded January 2022 coke contract also climbed on October 8, up Yuan 66.5/t from the settlement price of September 30 to Yuan 3,505/t when the daytime trading session ended.
Source:Mysteel Global
