Iron Ore Metal DNA™
· Atomic #26 · ₹8.32/kg today
The world's most-mined metal by tonnage — and, on this site, the one most often mistaken for the price of finished steel rather than the raw ore that becomes it.
Iron Ore DNA Profile
Each dimension below is either computed live from data this site already tracks, or a manually researched figure with its own source — see how these are calculated.
How is this calculated?
Computed from the 30-day price change already stored in this site's own price history: score = 50 + (30-day % change × 2), clamped to 0–100. A metal flat over 30 days scores 50; every 1% of 30-day move shifts the score 2 points either way.
How is this calculated?
The standard deviation of daily % price changes over the last 10 trading days, scaled ×20 and clamped to 0–100. A purely descriptive measure of recent swing size, not a positive or negative signal on its own.
How is this calculated?
The single largest producing country's share of reported global production (excluding the "Other countries" residual bucket), taken directly from the USGS-sourced figures already powering /metal-reserves. Higher = more concentrated in one country.
How is this calculated?
Summed reported reserves ÷ summed reported annual production, across only the countries USGS reports both figures for (same commodity, same units — never summed across commodities). Scaled: 40+ years of reserve life scores 100, scaled down linearly below that.
How is this calculated?
Manually researched from each metal's primary industry association (see each metal's Sources section) — not computed. Scored as 100 minus the largest single demand sector's share of total demand, so a metal with no single dominant buyer group scores higher than one dependent on one sector.
No reliable dataset for this metal yet — shown honestly as not scored rather than a guessed number.
Scientific Identity
- Symbol
- Fe
- Atomic Number
- 26
- Category
- Steel & Construction Materials
Source: IUPAC Periodic Table of the Elements. Further physical/chemical properties (density, melting point, electron configuration) are planned for a future update — not shown until individually verified per metal.
Australia and Brazil Dig It, China Buys It
Australia and Brazil — home to mining giants like BHP, Rio Tinto, Fortescue and Vale — supply the large majority of the world's seaborne iron ore, and Chinese steel mills buy the overwhelming majority of it. The price tracked here is, in effect, a live bet on Chinese steel output and construction activity.
Ore, Not Steel
The price on this page tracks raw iron ore — specifically the international 62% Fe fines benchmark — not finished or rolled steel. Iron ore gets smelted into pig iron and then processed into steel products like rebar and structural sections, each step adding its own smelting, rolling and market costs on top.
A Slow Push Toward 'Green Steel'
Traditional steelmaking — smelting iron ore with coke in a blast furnace — is one of the largest single industrial sources of carbon emissions on Earth, which has pushed a small but growing "green steel" movement toward hydrogen-based direct reduction: replacing carbon with hydrogen as the reducing agent, producing water instead of CO2. Still early-stage and far from mainstream, but a genuine long-term threat to how iron ore itself gets processed decades from now.
Supply Snapshot
Real, USGS-sourced production shares — the same data behind this metal's Geographic Concentration score above. Full breakdown: Metal Reserves →
Did You Know?
Iron ore can't have one uniform spot price the way gold or copper do, because ore quality varies hugely by iron content and impurities — pricing evolved around standardised grade benchmarks (commonly 62% Fe fines) rather than a single grade.
Frequently Asked Questions
Iron Ore Metal DNA™ is MetalsCost's intelligence profile combining scientific identity with market, supply and demand indicators — each indicator is either computed from this site's own stored price and reserves data, or a manually researched, cited figure. See the methodology page for exactly how.
Iron Ore's overall score of 22/100 is a simple average of the individual dimensions currently scored for it below — click any dimension's "Why?" for its exact formula and source.
Australia accounts for 37.7% of global iron ore production, per USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries — see the full production breakdown.
The Iron Ore price in India today is ₹8.32 per kilogram as of August 28, 2026. See the live price and chart.
MetalsCost Metal DNA™ is an informational and analytical indicator. It is not investment advice, a price target, or a recommendation to buy or sell any commodity or financial instrument. See the methodology page for data sources and calculation details.
