Final Thoughts

September 12, 2014
Final Thoughts
Written by John Packard
With iron ore approaching $80 per dry metric ton for spot 62% Fe fines in China (according to our Asian iron ore trading source as well as The Steel Index), I asked John Eckstein, retired metallurgist last with Severstal Sparrows Point and one of our Steel 101 instructors, to comment on the changes the price of iron ore has made to produce a slab and hot band. We compared ore at $120/dmt versus ore going to $80/dmt and he came up with the following:
At $120/dmt the cost of the slab is $505 per net ton and the hot band is $535 per net ton.


