Benchmark iron ore fell again on Tuesday to its lowest level since September 2012.
According to data from the The Steel Index, the import price of 62% iron ore fines at China’s Tianjin port was pegged at $97.50 per tonne, down 1%.
Apart from that quick gap down in September 2012 when the steelmaking raw material fell to $86.70 before quickly recovering, iron ore hasn’t traded below $100 at all since 2009.
Iron ore is now down 27% this year and after a relatively quiet 2013, volatility seems to be re-entering the market.
On March 10, iron ore suffered the worst one-day decline since the 2008-2009 financial crisis, cratering 8.3% in a single session.
That compares to the second half of last year when the price was stuck between $130 and $140 a tonne for 148 days straight.
The recent pullback also have echoes of 2011 when the raw material lost a third in value over the course of a month.
In 2011 between October 7 and the end of that month the price went from $170 to $117. The pattern was repeated in September a year later with a nearly $50 plunge in the space of six weeks.
