Iron ore futures surged unexpectedly in Singapore on Monday, a stark contrast to their decline late last week.
The SGX iron ore platform recorded a closing price of $104.10 per tonne for 62% Fe ore, marking a nearly 6% increase in a single day and reaching a two-week high.
This rise occurred despite a slight increase in iron ore stocks at China’s 45 major ports, as revealed by the weekly mySteel survey. Portside stocks totaled 144.5 million tonnes on April 3, up by 210,700 tonnes—a considerably smaller increment compared to the previous week's 4 million tonne-plus rise.
Mysteel attributed the higher stocks primarily to the continuous influx of iron ore arrivals, surpassing the discharge volume at ports. Imports remained robust, with total arrivals reaching 24.4 million tonnes last week—an increase of 907,000 tonnes.
Despite talks of capacity cuts at some mills and concerns over the approaching summer and pollution issues, Monday witnessed a sharp rise in prices. However, the market remains volatile, with sentiments fluctuating, and little indication of demand strengthening.
As such, prices could easily reverse course following this significant increase.
