The iron ore price received a boost on Tuesday when it hit its highest level in more than a week, breaching $61 per tonne. While that's a far cry from the metal's April 2014 price of $115, it's up marginally from last month, when 62 percent Fe fines fell to $46.70. One of the reasons behind this week's boost is a drop in iron ore stocks at Chinese ports; they are now at their lowest level since December 2013. According to Reuters, stocks for imported iron ore at major Chinese ports have now fallen for five straight weeks, and were down at 86.7 million tonnes as of last week — that marks a 15-percent drop for the year. Scotiabank's Patricia Mohr notes in her monthly Commodity Price Index report that restocking by Chinese steel mills has also helped boost the iron ore price this week. Big miners also driving price Looking elsewhere for iron ore price clues, Mohr notes that BHP Billiton's (ASX:BHP,NYSE:BHP,LSE:BLT) decision to delay further expansion at Port Hedland has also been a boon to the market. Vale (NYSE:VALE), the world's biggest iron producer, followed suit by reducing its iron ore production forecast by up to 30 million tonnes over the next two years, and in the long-term that may help alleviate the current surplus as well. Mohr said that while it would be nice to see other big producers follow suit, Scotiabank doesn't expect that to happen. Having said that, she does see iron ore exports from Australia slowly reduce to more acceptable levels. "Compared to the massive increase in iron ore exports from Australia last year ... exports from Australia are expected to slow down marginally," Mohr explained in a phone interview.
The iron ore price received a boost on Tuesday when it hit its highest level in more than a week, breaching $61 per tonne. While that's a far cry from the metal's April 2014 price of $115, it's up marginally from last month, when 62 percent Fe fines fell to $46.70. One of the reasons behind this week's boost is a drop in iron ore stocks at Chinese ports; they are now at their lowest level since December 2013. According to Reuters, stocks for imported iron ore at major Chinese ports have now fallen for five straight weeks, and were down at 86.7 million tonnes as of last week — that marks a 15-percent drop for the year. Scotiabank's Patricia Mohr notes in her monthly Commodity Price Index report that restocking by Chinese steel mills has also helped boost the iron ore price this week. Big miners also driving price Looking elsewhere for iron ore price clues, Mohr notes that BHP Billiton's (ASX:BHP,NYSE:BHP,LSE:BLT) decision to delay further expansion at Port Hedland has also been a boon to the market. Vale (NYSE:VALE), the world's biggest iron producer, followed suit by reducing its iron ore production forecast by up to 30 million tonnes over the next two years, and in the long-term that may help alleviate the current surplus as well. Mohr said that while it would be nice to see other big producers follow suit, Scotiabank doesn't expect that to happen. Having said that, she does see iron ore exports from Australia slowly reduce to more acceptable levels. "Compared to the massive increase in iron ore exports from Australia last year ... exports from Australia are expected to slow down marginally," Mohr explained in a phone interview.