Iron ore miners analyze price drop

At the annual meeting of the world's largest and smallest iron ore producers, the mood was upbeat, as if such a significant one-day fall in the price of ore in addition to the global financial crisis had never occurred. At the same time, there is a feeling that Australian miners are worried about the sharp decline in iron ore prices, he does not show this.

“Iron ore mining is not tennis, it is a contact sport,” said David Flanagan, chairman of Atlas Iron LLC. “It hurts a little sometimes, but we just learned to get along with it.” The miners believe that the price has declined in recent days, responding to sentiment rather than fundamentals, and sentiment will push the price up again.

Iron ore for immediate delivery to China fell 8 percent in one day after China's trade balance swung towards deficit, fueling fears of a slowdown in the world's second largest economy and largest importer of steel ingredients.
Iron ore is down 22 percent this year to $ 104.70 a tonne, forcing comparisons with the 2012 downturn to below $ 90 a tonne, prompting miners to rethink expansion plans.

Australia shipped most of its iron ore to China in 2013. Like most Australian producers, Atlas Iron is still in the black, cutting its overall cost of supplying jelly ore to China. The largest miners, such as Fortescue Metals Group, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, estimate that Chinese demand will peak to roughly billion tons per year by 2025.