The market value of the world’s top 4 iron ore mining companies has fallen, with the price of a tonne falling below $100 recently.
Iron ore prices have fallen by more than a third since the start of 2024, with futures on China’s Qingdao Stock Exchange hitting $92.2 a tonne yesterday, the lowest since November 2022, the Financial Times reported.
This has led to a combined market value loss of about $100bn for BHP, Rio Tinto, Vale and Fortescue since the start of the year.
Vivek Dhar, director of mining and energy research at Commonwealth Bank, told the newspaper that markets fear that iron ore prices will continue to fall below $100 per tonne in the near term.
The decline in iron ore prices yesterday came after Chinese data last week showed the country’s steel production fell by about 9% on a monthly and yearly basis in July to 82.94 million tonnes.
This comes amid the crisis in the country’s real estate sector, which has led to a decline in demand for iron ore from steelmakers.
