• Skip to main content

    Overseas

    February 25, 2014

    Chinese Update: Iron Ore Bubble & Steel Export Offers

    Written by John Packard

    Steel Market Update has been in constant contact with one of our Asian trading sources who is a trader of iron ore to Chinese steel mills and exporter of finished steel out of China around the world. We have been discussing the iron ore “bubble” which continues to inflate and our source believes it will be only a matter of time before a correction – similar to 2012 – will occur. Current iron ore spot prices are $119.1 per dry metric ton (dmt) on 62% Fe having broken through the $120/dmt level for the first time since July 2013 according to The Steel Index (CFR Tianjin Port).

    On Friday, iron ore stocks were reported to SMU to have been 100.91 million metric tons.

    John Packard

    Read more from John Packard

    Latest in Overseas

    Price on Trade: Steel’s zero-sum game

    During the first three quarters of 2026, finished steel imports from South Korea increased 50.8% compared with the same period in 2025. Imports from Vietnam increased 23.4%, imports from Turkey increased 49.5%, and imports from India increased 29.5%. Those are not marginal increases. They are substantial import surges, especially in a US market where apparent domestic consumption has bounced around but has not grown since 2017. More importantly, these import surges are arriving at lower average unit values (AUVs).