Iron Market Report in February 2013

Price of pig iron rose in February, and steel mills significantly lifted purchase price.Asian Metal Copyright In March, with positive policies issued during “Two Session”, traders would gradually gain confidence, and some steel mills might lift the price by RMB50-100t in order to replace stocks.Asian Metal Copyright Before the Chinese New Year holiday, most iron plants halted production for maintenance and traders had left market; as a consequence, the low availability was mirrored to unfavorable deliveries in steel mills; however, the sales of finished steel slowed down, so steel mills mostly consumed stocks.Asian Metal Copyright After the holiday, some plants resumed production, but the tight supply remained to be seen in the market, and steel mills had to pick up purchase price to secure deliveries as the uptrend of iron ore fines and high price of coke weighed on iron plants and made them hold on from low-price sales.Asian Metal Copyright After the holiday, some plants resumed production, but the tight supply remained to be seen in the market, and steel mills had to pick up purchase price to secure deliveries as the uptrend of iron ore fines and high price of coke weighed on iron plants and made them hold on from low-price sales. In March, with positive policies issued during “Two Session”, traders would gradually gain confidence, and some steel mills might lift the price by RMB50-100/t in order to replace stocks.Asian Metal Copyright Before the Chinese New Year holiday, most iron plants halted production for maintenance and traders had left market; as a consequence, the low availability was mirrored to unfavorable deliveries in steel mills; however, the sales of finished steel slowed down, so steel mills mostly consumed stocks.Asian Metal Copyright