"Why would IO prices increase when the markets holding far more...

"Why would IO prices increase when the markets holding far more than anytime in history ?"

We're also holding more gold than anytime in history, are you saying we go back to the days when gold was $10, a ton of iron 20 cents and a month's salary was $10? It was only a 100 years ago.

One really big driver to price is the amount of money in circulation. If the rate of money is growing at a faster rate than the iron ore production and consumption differential. Then Iron ore prices will rise just because we've got more paper notes around.