Weak steel marketweighs on spot iron ore

摘要

Iron ore prices inched lowerWednesday as weak steel sales continuedto weigh on the willingness of Chinesemills to procure spot material. Plattsassessed the 62% Fe Iron Ore Index at$54.80/dry mt CFR North China, down 10cents day on day.A trader in Singapore said there wasstill no clear indication of when loss-makingstate-owned mills in China would moveback into the black, which would continueto hamper ore demand. “Production cuts inwinter this year should be higher than lastyear; I don’t think iron ore prices are goingto rebound after the holidays in China atall,” he said.