PETALING JAYA: The price of spot iron ore has been one of the major beneficiaries of expectations of strong demand as China re-opens its economy after abandoning its strict zero-Covid policy.
While other commodities, such as crude oil and copper, have also enjoyed recent gains on the back of the China recovery narrative, iron ore’s rally seems grounded in actual gains in demand.
The spot price of benchmark 62% iron ore, as assessed by commodity price reporting agency Argus, ended at US$126 (RM540) a tonne on Jan 20.
This is up 7.1% from the beginning of the year and the steel raw material has now surged 59.5% since its low last year of US$79 (RM339) a tonne, reached on Oct 31.
China is on track to import 115.6 million tonnes in January, according to Kpler data, up from 90.86 million tonnes in December 2022. — Reuters
