It confirms my thoughts that while iron ore stocks at Chinese ports are high, a lot of it is of a grade or quality that steel mills don't want. Emissions reductions and productivity gains are creating the demand for high grade ore and you can't get much higher than "Hawsons Supergrade"!
Good to get external confirmation of what the directors are saying about demand for the product to be mined.
"The most-traded iron ore on the Dalian Commodity Exchange DCIOcv1 rose 1.2 percent to 565 yuan ($84.83) per tonne.
While overall iron ore supply in China is high, particularly at its ports, traders said availability of high-grade raw material is limited. Steel producers are increasingly opting for higher grade iron ore to boost efficiency.
"There isn't a lot of high-grade around and Chinese mills are preferring high-grade because they want to produce more with steel prices rising," said a trader in Jinan in China's eastern Shandong province.
Stockpiles of imported iron ore at China's ports stood at 139.15 million tonnes on Friday, according to data tracked by SteelHome. SH-TOT-IRONINV
That was not far below the record 141.45 million tonnes reached in June, but the Jinan-based trader said only about a fifth of that inventory is comprised of high-quality Australian iron ore fines."
CAP Price at posting:
7.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held