Concerning economic data continued to weigh on the iron ore price on Friday with the commodity finishing the session trading nearly 2% lower at US$58.20 a tonne, according to the Metal Bulletin Ltd.
While it has now lost 57% of its value over the last 15 months, what is even more concerning is the pace at which it has been dropping recently. In fact, it has lost more than 10% of its value in the last 10 trading days, slipping to its lowest price in almost six years.
The price is being weighed down by a combination of slowing demand from China (which has consumed the majority of seaborn supplies in recent decades) as well as tidal waves of fresh supplies being introduced by the world's largest miners. In fact, shipping records were smashed at Port Hedland in February with an average 1.27 million tonnes of the commodity shipped on a daily basis over the month.
Indeed, the heavy fall in prices has left Australia's miners battered with some having lost more than 90% of their value since early-2014. Here's how the iron ore miners are looking today:
- Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) down 2% at $59.19
- BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) down 2.1% at $31.96
- BC Iron Limited (ASX: BCI) down 5.8% at 41 cents
- Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) up 0.9% at $2.17
- Mount Gibson Iron Limited (ASX: MGX) down 2.2% at 22 cents
- Arrium Ltd (ASX: ARI) down 5.1% at 18.5 cents
Unfortunately, the outlook isn't looking too bright for the miners. Most analysts expect the iron ore price will continue to slide in 2015 which could be enough to wipe some of the higher cost producers out completely – despite their impressive efforts to reduce overall operating costs.
