Beijing — Benchmark iron ore futures in China tumbled on Friday and logged their fourth straight weekly fall, as worries over steel output controls overshadowed demand for steelmaking ingredients and gobbled up gains logged earlier this week.
Overall iron ore supplies from the top four miners are expected to increase significantly in the second half of 2021, SinoSteel Futures wrote in a note.
If environmental-related production controls are to be implemented strictly, the market might have an oversupply of iron ore, the note added.
The most-actively traded iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange, for September delivery, closed down 3.7% to 1,163 yuan ($179.25) per tonne. They fell 1.6% this week.
Spot prices of iron ore with 62% iron content for delivery to China was unchanged at $219 per tonne on Thursday, according to SteelHome consultancy.
Coking coal futures on the Dalian bourse fell 1.1% to 1,857 yuan a tonne.
Coke futures slid 1.6% to 2,495 yuan per tonne.
Capacity utilisation rates of blast furnaces at 247 steel mills recovered to 86% as of Friday from 81% a week earlier, but was still much lower than same level year ago, data from Mysteel consultancy showed.
The most traded steel rebar on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, for October delivery, inched up 0.3% to 5,428 yuan a tonne.
Hot rolled coils, used in the manufacturing sector, increased 0.4% to 5,795 yuan per tonne at close.
Rebar and hot rolled coils gained 5.9% and 7%, respectively, this week.
Shanghai stainless steel futures, for August delivery, jumped 1.6% to 17,360 yuan a tonne.
China’s factory gate price rose at a slightly slower pace in June following government’s efforts to rein in the commodity prices, data from statistics bureau showed.
($1 = 6.4881 Chinese yuan renminbi)
- Reuters (Reporting by Min Zhang and Shivani Singh; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel)
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