War hides iron ore shakeout

Friday 4 September 2026

The whacko ferrous rally has come to a shuddering halt as coking coal coughs.

As previously noted, Chinese inspections of Shanxi coal mines following the epic May explosion that killed 82 workers have slowed production, but I do not expect this to last long. The July surge in imports eased in August. It should continue as mines reopen.

Meanwhile, other data is a little less bearish. The Hebei steel PMI rebounded somewhat.

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About the author

David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.