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.
The rout in industrial metals has claimed another victim: iron ore.
On the same day that copper tumbled nearly 7% for its biggest slide in a month, Bloomberg reports that iron ore’s largest decline in 15 months is showing no signs of recovery, according to analysts:
Ore for immediate delivery may drop to $140 a metric ton by year-end, according to Macquarie Group Ltd. analyst Bonnie Liu in Shanghai. That’s down 5.2 percent from $147.70 yesterday, data from The Steel Index Ltd. show. The price may fall to the mid to low $140s, said Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd.
The reason? Slow growth in China. The economy of the world’s biggest steelmaker is sputtering, which means softer prices for steel and iron ore, a crucial steelmaking ingredient. Bloomberg notes steel prices have dropped to a 10-month low with port ore inventories at near highs.
The situation is being exacerbated as the Big 3 iron ore producers — BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP), Vale SA (NYSE:VALE) and Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) , and Australia’s Fortescue Metals Group (ASX:FMG) — crank out product at record levels.
Comments
Zliv
Great many Industries cannot leave steel, the Bear market
mainly caused by the unstable world economy.When the situation is better, the price may rise up again.