Iron-ore prices rise as Russia-Ukraine conflict clouds supply outlook
Benchmark iron-ore futures in China and Singapore climbed by more than 3% on Monday as traders worried that a prolonged armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine could also curb global supply of the key steelmaking ingredient.
The most-traded May iron ore contract on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange advanced by as much as 3.6% to 711.50 yuan ($112.68) a tonne, after last week's 1.8% gain.
On the Singapore Exchange, iron ore's most-active April contract rose as much as 3.2% to $141.05 a tonne.
"Any prolonged military campaign will severely impact annual iron ore exports totaling almost 70-million tonnes from Russia and Ukraine, eventually tightening the global balance," said Atilla Widnell, MD at Navigate Commodities in Singapore.
While Russia and Ukraine are not major suppliers of iron ore to China, the world's biggest steel producer, which buys most of its requirements from Australia and Brazil, exports of the material from the two nations now at war are usually sold to other European countries.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has triggered a Western political, strategic, economic and corporate response unprecedented in its extent and coordination, with the harsh sanctions including blocking some Russian banks from the SWIFT international payments system.
As this month's Beijing Winter Olympics has ended, rebounding Chinese blast furnace capacity utilisation rates, which should result in the quicker drawdown of iron ore inventories at Chinese ports, are also expected to offer further price support, Widnell said.
Construction steel rebar and hot-rolled coil on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SRBcv1 both gained as much as 2.2%. Stainless steel slumped 2.7%.
Dalian coking coal DJMcv1 was up 1.5%, as of 0210 GMT, but coke dipped 0.1%.
Comments
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Showroom
Tractor & Grader Supplies (TGS™): Your Trusted, Genuine Source for New Replacement Parts for Earthmoving, Construction and Mining Machinery
VISIT SHOWROOM
Weir is a global leader in mining technology. We recognise that our planet’s future depends on the transition to renewable energy, and that...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
