China’s Steps Turn Iron Into World’s Most Volatile Commodity
Iron-ore, one of the hottest commodities in the early days of the raw materials rally, has now become the most volatile as bulls and bears joust over the trajectory of prices.
In a series of wild swings, the ore that fuels China’s vast steel industry surged to a record, collapsed into a bear market and then returned to a bull market in the space of about a month. Its gyrations in the past 30 days mark the mineral as the most volatile of the two dozen most traded commodities around the world.
Iron ore is being buffeted largely by confusion over how government policy will affect demand from steel mills in top consumer China.
China wants to cut steel production but control prices, and to reduce investment but maintain employment, said Tomas Gutierrez, an analyst at Kallanish Commodities Ltd. “As policy shifts to keep the desired balance between these goals, the outlook for steel will improve or worsen…Full Story