London (Platts)--27Nov2012/753 am EST/1253 GMT
German iron ore import prices in October fell 10.9% from September to their lowest level in 30 months, according to index data from the federal statistics office (Destatis) released Tuesday. The three-month rolling average of free-at-the-German border iron ore prices was 9.0% weaker than in September, partly reflecting quarterly contract prices, which track spot prices with a time lag of several months. Compared with a year earlier, import prices plunged 39.5%, falling at their fastest in a 10-month annual deflation trend. In 2011, annual inflation had approached 35%. Among other inputs for the steel industry, import prices for coking products fell 10.1% month on month, for hard coal declined 1.8% and for pig iron, steel and ferroalloy products eased 1.6%, based on the government data. The euro rose in the reporting month by 0.9% against the US dollar to its highest in six months, benefiting importers with dollar-denominated contracts. German mills fully rely on foreign iron ore sources. Over the first nine months of 2012, the country imported 29.82 million mt of iron ore, which was 11.5% less than in the same period a year earlier as steel output shrank, according to the latest available official trade data.--Inge Erhard, newsdesk@platts.com--Edited by Jonathan Fox, jonathan_fox@platts.comSimilar stories appear in Platts SBB Steel Markets Daily. See more information at http://www.platts.com/Products/steelmarketsdaily