India’s Iron Ore exports slid from 5-yr high to 5-mth low!

Price sensitivity or seasonal evolution? Climaxing at 2.8Mt/wk at the start of 2024 and mirroring SGX iron ore prices then over 140$/t, iron ore exports from…

India's Iron Ore Exports March 2024

…India have eased regularly, in-sync with lower iron ore prices. With 1.4Mt/wk shipping last week, the pace of exports contracted -37% MoM or -29% WoW, in-line with SGX futures contract for Apr’24 delivery retracing -19% MoM and testing the 105$/t-mark. Beyond price-volume elasticity, exports from India are also facing the seasonal recovery of exports from competitors in Australia and Brazil, both eager to increase market-share.

Going forward, India’s exports are likely to remain under pressure, mostly because of the coming monsoon season that will hamper local iron ore mining from June to September. Government interventions are not to be excluded with smaller steel producers in India lobbying for affordable iron ore supply, which could, if successful, antagonize exports.

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