1. Report Industry Investment Rating - Not provided in the content 2. Core View of the Report - The supply - side support for iron ore continues to weaken, while domestic demand remains at a high level and supports the price. Although the overall supply - demand contradiction of iron ore is weak, the pressure of profit contraction in the industrial chain and the structural contradiction of finished product inventory limit the upward price. With high domestic hot - metal production, the price has support. Based on the current port clearance and arrival levels, the pressure of port inventory accumulation in October is not large, and there is a possibility of price rebound if market sentiment improves. The price of iron ore will oscillate within a certain range [3][4][5] 3. Summary by Related Catalogs Market Environment - The iron ore price continued its narrow - range oscillation yesterday, and short - term attention should be paid to macro - incremental drivers. The market expects the US federal government to end the shutdown this week, and with the approaching APEC meeting at the end of the month, Sino - US trade relations are expected to ease. The 14th Five - Year Plan will be announced today, and the market has positive expectations for domestic macro - policy directions. The sentiment of the black series is still weak, and the inventory pressure of finished products and the low level of steel mill profits suppress the sector's valuation [3] Supply - The shipment of foreign mines increased slightly on a month - on - month basis, with the shipment increases of Rio Tinto and FMG in Australia being relatively significant, while the shipment from Brazil was relatively stable. After reaching a new high this year, the arrival volume returned to the median level, and overall, the supply - side support continued to weaken [3] Demand - Domestic demand continued to decline on a month - on - month basis but remained at a high level, still supporting the iron ore price. Blast furnace overhauls mainly occurred in Hebei, Shanxi, Jiangsu, and Shandong. In Hebei, it was mainly due to insufficient sinter supply, while in other regions, it was due to poor finished product sales and weakening profits. The daily average hot - metal output in this period was 240.95 tons (month - on - month - 0.59), basically the same as the average level in August (240.5). Overall, the blast furnace operating rate and profitability remained relatively high, and high demand still supported the iron ore price [4] Inventory - The inventory level at steel mills decreased slightly on a month - on - month basis, and the daily consumption of imported ore by steel mills declined due to production cuts. Steel mills are about to enter the seasonal inventory accumulation stage. Due to the arrival volume being at a high level in the same period, port inventory continued to accumulate on a month - on - month basis [4] Price - The price will oscillate within a range. The main contract of Dalian iron ore will be in the range of 760 - 800 yuan/ton, corresponding to an overseas price of about 103 - 107 US dollars/ton [5] Strategy - Conduct range operations and use covered call options [6]