(ZEROHEDGE) – While most of the attention in recent days has focused on copper, overnight both Iron ore and steel climbed to records as Chinese investors returned from a three-day holiday and sparked a furious rally.
Spot iron ore prices topped $200 a ton for the first time ever, as futures in Singapore and China climbed. Iron ore with 62% content hit $201.15 a ton on Thursday, according to Mysteel. Futures in Singapore jumped as much as 5.1% to $196.40 a ton, the highest since contracts were launched in 2013. In Dalian, prices closed 8.8% higher.
The story is familiar: steel demand is soaring as economies emerge from covid lockdowns just as the world’s biggest miners have been hampered by operational issues, curbing ore supply.