China stainless steel mogul fights to avoid a second collapse
A debt crisis is threatening the future of one of the world’s top stainless steel producers, Jiangsu Delong Nickel Industry.
Iron ore prices continued to drop on Tuesday due to increasing domestic supply in China and ongoing concerns about demand, which have been exacerbated by a prolonged downturn in the property market, leading to a decline in investor confidence.
According to Fastmarkets, benchmark 62% Fe fines imported into Northern China fell 1.43% on Tuesday, to $123.04 per ton.
The most-traded January iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange ended daytime trading 0.69% lower at 862.5 yuan ($118.19) a metric ton, after falling 0.2% on Monday.
The benchmark October iron ore on the Singapore Exchange fell 0.87% to $120.7 a ton as of 0655 GMT, recouping some losses from earlier the session and staying above the pivotal level of $120 a ton.
“We see it as normal downward correction after touching the resistance level,” said Cheng Peng, a Beijing-based analyst at Sinosteel Futures.
“It’s risky to build long positions at a price range between $120 and $130 per ton.”
Higher domestic supply weighed on the key steelmaking ingredient, with output of run of mine totalling 659.17 million tons in the Jan-Aug period, up 7% year-on-year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday.
Concerns over the property market also persisted, despite a temporary relief after embattled Chinese developer Country Garden won approval from creditors to extend repayment on another onshore bond.
($1 = 7.2975 Chinese yuan)
(With files from Reuters)
Comments