Nippon, JFE, Posco Agree to 65% Iron Ore Price Gain
Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) — Asia’s three largest steelmakers agreed to pay Cia. Vale do Rio Doce 65 percent more for iron ore, setting a global benchmark for prices that’s less than some analysts estimated.
Nippon Steel Corp., JFE Holdings Inc. and Posco will pay the increase for the year starting April 1, the companies said separately today. The three mills and China’s Baosteel Group Corp. make up four of the top five global producers of the alloy.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aNIQN_CzRLds&refer=home
Za ljubitelje Supramaxa – uštedit’ će nam inflaciju “analitičkih” postova.
Kolega Špancir, ne sumnjam da znate više, i hvala što ste podijelili dio toga.
Evo i prijevod olujine vijesti:
Azijski proizvođači čelika postigli dogovor s Valeom o 65-postotnom povećanju cijena
SYDNEY, 18. veljače 2008. (Hina/AP) – Veliki azijski proizvođači čelika, japanski Nippon Steel i JFE Steel i južnokorejski Posco, postigli su dogovor s brazilskom rudarskom kompanijom Vale o 65-postotnom povećanju cijene željezne rude u 2008., izvijestili su u ponedjeljak američki mediji.
Tako će dva azijska proizvođača čelika u fiskalnoj godini 2008/2009. plaćati Valeu 78,90 dolara za tonu željezne rudače, u odnosu na 47,81 dolara u prethodnoj fiskalnoj godini, objavio je glasnogovornik kompanije.
Barem nešto se događa, sad još čekamo Kineze?
Dry-bulk shipping rates may extend gains for a fourth week, following an agreement by Asia’s three largest steelmakers to a 65 per cent jump in annual iron ore prices and on China’s demand for coal and grains. Tokyo-based JFE Holdings Inc agreed to a 65 per cent increase in iron ore prices with Cia Vale do Rio Doce, setting a global benchmark for the raw material. The advance in annual contract prices will apply for the 12 months from April, JFE said yesterday. South Korea’s Posco and Nippon Steel Corp also agreed to the gain.
‘It will be positive for the dry-bulk shipping market as the finalisation of the price negotiations means that the transportation of iron ore will be in earnest,’ Martin Song and Jennifer Lee, analysts at Woori Investment & Securities Co, said by phone from Seoul.
Bulk-shipping rates have risen 27 per cent the last three weeks, boosted by speculation Chinese steelmakers and three iron ore miners may be close to a price accord on annual supplies. The Baltic Dry Index, an overall measure of commodity shipping costs, may rise to records in the next six months, partly because negotiations between Chinese steelmakers and ore miners – Vale, Rio Tinto Group and BHP Billiton Ltd – may be concluded soon, according to CIMB Bhd analyst Raymond Yap in a Feb 15 report.
China is the world’s largest buyer of the steelmaking material. Iron ore is the single-biggest commodity shipped by sea.
The Baltic Dry Index rose 16 per cent last week to 7,355 on Feb 15, the third straight week of gains, according to the London-based Baltic Exchange. The Baltic Capesize Index, a measure for shipping cost on carriers that can transport 175,000 tons of cargo, rose 10 per cent last week to 10,436 on Feb 15.
China’s decision to stop coal exports until April after the heaviest snowstorms in 50 years may also bolster rates as countries like Japan and South Korea, which source the fuel from China, may import from farther countries such as from Indonesia and Australia, Courage Marine Group Ltd chairman Hsu Chih-Chien said last week.
Congestion at global ports may also put pressure on rates. At Australia’s Newcastle, the world’s largest export harbour for thermal coal, the average waiting time for coal-carrying ships is 9.33 days as of Feb 18, compared with 0.46 days as of Feb 11, Newcastle Port Corp said on its website. Last week, the average waiting time was 7.26 days for ships carrying coal and 0.31 days for general cargo.
There are 36 vessels waiting to load the fuel at Newcastle as of yesterday morning, compared with 41 vessels a week before, the website showed.
Demand for grains from China, the world’s biggest importer of oilseeds, may rise due to weather problems and increase the need for bulk shipping. Almost half the rapeseed crop was affected by rain and snow, the China National Grain & Oils Information Centre said on Feb 14. Rapeseed, like soybeans, is use to make animal feed and cooking oils.
‘China needs a lot of grains because of the snowstorms and most of that is carried through panamaxes,‘ T C Chang, head of research at TMT Co, a diversified Taiwanese shipping company, said by phone from Taipei.
The Baltic Panamax Index, a measure of shipping using carriers that can haul 70,000 tons of cargo, jumped 27 per cent last week, the most since August 2005, to 7,646, according to the Baltic Exchange’s data.
Coal shipments from Australia’s Newcastle port, the world’s largest export harbor for the fuel, rose 15 percent last week.
Loadings increased to about 2.04 million metric tons in the week ended 7 a.m. local time yesterday from 1.78 million tons the previous week, Newcastle Port Corp. said today on its Web site. Thirty-six vessels were waiting off the port as of yesterday morning, five fewer than a week ago.
Thermal coal prices at Newcastle, a benchmark for Asia, rose to a record for a fourth week to $139.16 a ton in the period ended Feb. 15, according to the globalCOAL NEWC index, as floods cut deliveries in Queensland, adding to supply disruptions in China and South Africa. Xstrata Plc, Rio Tinto Group and other miners are struggling to meet increasing demand due to bottlenecks in port and rail networks in Australia’s east.
An average of 9.33 days was needed to load coal last week compared with 0.46 day for general cargo, the port company said.
Za dugoročne ulagače…..
Baffinland confirms vast iron ore play
ANDY HOFFMAN
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Call it an overnight success story more than 45 years in the making.
Amid skyrocketing prices for iron ore, Baffinland Iron Ore Mines Corp. confirmed Tuesday that its Mary River project in Nunavut, first discovered in 1962, is one of the largest undeveloped iron ore deposits in the world, containing 365 million tonnes of proven and probable reserves.
The major impediment for Baffinland is the fact the valuable metal, used in the production of steel, is found among the permafrost and 24-hour winter darkness of Baffin Island, some 3,200 kilometres from its head office in Toronto.
The feasibility study estimates it will cost $4.1-billion to build Mary River, including 145 kilometres of rail lines as well as ports to accommodate the ice-breaking ships that will transport the iron ore to steel-making customers in Europe.
Construction and logistics are not, however, the largest hurdle the junior miner will have to overcome if it wants to start production by its target of 2014, said president and chief executive Gordon McCreary.
“The biggest challenge is raising the money … This is not the kind of asset that is normally in the hands of a junior company,” Mr. McCreary said in an interview.
Constricted credit markets have made raising capital exceedingly difficult for junior miners. However, record iron ore prices are expected to bolster efforts to finance what some have called the “Mackenzie Valley Pipeline of the Eastern Arctic” – referring to the project’s massive scale.
On Monday, industry giant Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (Vale) became the first iron ore producer to reveal contract prices for 2008, as strong demand from China’s booming economy and production problems in Australia keep supply tight. The Brazilian mining major said it won price increases of between 65 and 71 per cent from its key steel-making customers in Japan, South Korea and Germany.
Mary River has been well known in the mining industry since its initial discovery 46 years ago. In fact, Mr. McCreary even wrote his MBA thesis on the deposit in 1978. But the project languished for years amid low metal prices until Baffinland went public in 2004 with Mr. McCreary at the helm. Since then, the company has spent more $170-million advancing Mary River and increasing the resource base through drilling.
The company is now searching for a financing partner willing to purchase up to 49 per cent of the project, which is expected to produce 18 million tonnes of iron ore a year over a 20-year mine life. It has hired CIBC World Markets Inc. and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. to conduct the process. Mr. McCreary said confidentiality agreements have already been signed with 16 potential partners but that none of the major iron ore producers including Vale, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton are on the list, because the agreements prohibit them from bidding for the company.
“They all know us and they all know us well. None though have chinned themselves up to sign a confidentiality agreement, because it’s got a standstill provision,” he said.
Catherine Gignac, an analyst at Wellington West Capital Markets, said Mary River’s high-grade ore is likely to generate strong interest from both steel makers and miners.
“It is the world’s largest and best quality there’s no question,” she said, adding that if the deposit had been located in a less challenging area such as Brazil, it would have been “mined out completely in the 1970s and ’80s.”
Nije loša situacija za ULPL , JDPL i handy dio ATPL :
Serenity 1 (53,688 dwt, 14.7L(A), 2006-built) delivery Surabaya 6-17 Mar, redelivery worldwide, 1 year, $59,250 daily. (Korean)
Spar Canis (53,565 dwt, 14/33.5L(A) 14.5/33.5B, 2006-built) delivery worldwide 20 Mar – 14 Jun, redelivery worldwide, 1 year, $58,000 daily. (Cosbulk)
Clean Seas (46,640 dwt, 14/29.3L, 1995-built) delivery Muldwarka 23-25 Feb, redelivery China, $55,000 daily. (Chinese)
Asian Glory (45,194 dwt, 14/31.5L 14/30.5B, 1995-built) delivery Shimizu 23-29 Feb, redelivery worldwide, 3-5 months, $54,500 daily. (Norden)
……….”According to report, Ningbo Shipping Co. has signed an contract with China Shenhua Coal Sales Center called “2008 year transportation contract”. According to this contract, 2008 coal freight is 62% higher than last year same period. This is another company majoring in electricity-coal shipping declared to raise contractual freight after China Shipping Haisheng Co.,Ltd increased its freight in January…………..”
Danas panamaxi nešto kašljucaju , ali sjajne vozarine za supramaxe i handyje (veće od panamaxa !).