CHART: Unnerving slide in iron ore price continues

Benchmark iron ore fell again on Tuesday to its lowest level since September 2012.

According to data from the The Steel Index, the import price of 62% iron ore fines at China’s Tianjin port was pegged at $97.50 per tonne, down 1%.

Apart from that quick gap down in September 2012 when the steelmaking raw material fell to $86.70 before quickly recovering, iron ore hasn’t traded below $100 at all since 2009.

Iron ore is now down 27% this year and after a relatively quiet 2013, volatility seems to be re-entering the market.

On March 10, iron ore suffered the worst one-day decline since the 2008-2009 financial crisis, cratering 8.3% in a single session.

That compares to the second half of last year when the price was stuck between $130 and $140 a tonne for 148 days straight.

The recent pullback also have echoes of 2011 when the raw material lost a third in value over the course of a month.

In 2011 between October 7 and the end of that month the price went from $170 to $117. The pattern was repeated in September a year later with a nearly $50 plunge in the space of six weeks.