[Ferro-Alloys.com]

  02 iron ore price soars to a new high in recent 8 years

  Since November this year, iron ore prices have entered a period of accelerated rise. On December 21, the closing price of the main contract of iron ore futures reached 1144.5 yuan / ton, a record high since the listing of iron ore futures in 2013. On the same day, the imported iron ore price index of China's iron ore price index (CIOPI) reached 602.55 points, and the price of 62% of direct imported iron ore reached 171.92 US dollars / ton, both reaching a new high in nearly eight years.

  Comments: in the first three quarters, Vale's iron ore (fine ore) output reached 216 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 3.5%; BHP Billiton's iron ore output was 218 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 7%; Rio Tinto's iron ore output was 247 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 2%; FMG's iron ore output was 136 million tons, a year-on-year basically flat. According to the latest data released by the World Steel Association, in November, the crude steel output of 64 countries and regions included in the statistics of the world steel association was 158.3 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 6.6%. These data show that the global iron ore supply and demand fundamentals have not changed greatly, indicating that the current iron ore market pricing mechanism has failed, there are abnormal bidding of traders to boost the index rise, and the futures market is close to the delivery month. Overall, the recent surge in iron ore prices lacks fundamental support, and there are obvious signs of international capital speculation.

• [Editor:Catherine Ren]