According to a report issued by Standard Chartered Bank, the downtrend of iron ore prices in the Chinese market is expected to continue in the Q3 this year.

Due to earlier declines in iron ore prices than expected, Standard Chartered Bank has reduced its iron ore price predictions for the Chinese market to USD 124 per MT and USD 112 per MT for the second and Q3 of the current year respectively down from the previous forecasts of USD 140 per MT and USD 133 per MT.

Standard Chartered Bank had previously predicted that the Chinese iron ore market would witness a downtrend from June due to the traditional seasonal lull. However, iron ore prices declined earlier than expected due to weak economic growth and improved market supply.

Mr Zhu Hui analyst in the research department of Standard Chartered Bank said that "With the reduced production of Chinese mills from June, we expect the decline of iron ore prices to continue to the Q3 of this year.”