Iron-Ore 2023/24: Bracing for change

“One of the great commodity runs of the twenty-first century, is coming to an end,” chairperson, chief analyst and author of The Edge, Simon Flowers, has said about the iron-ore boom of the past 20-odd years.

 

He avers that demand has more than doubled since 2000, but that the industry is bracing for structural change as China’s demand wanes and global steelmakers transition to greener feedstocks. Slowing Chinese demand growth will primarily drive lower prices, a trend already in its early stages.

In addition, a structural shift away from industrial- and steel-intensive sectors toward services and less steel-intensive infrastructure will negatively impact on iron-ore demand.

Creamer Media’s ‘Iron-Ore 2023/24: Bracing for change’ report considers the current iron-ore market focusing on key developments globally in the sector, namely supply, demand, trade, pricing and decarbonisation. It also examines these topics in the context of South Africa's iron-ore market, with a particular emphasis on producers and some of the challenges they are facing in getting their product to port. Developments in the iron-ore sector on the rest of the African continent are also examined.