China’s iron ore futures rose on Monday as spot prices hovered near 10-month highs supported by falling portside stockpiles, but gains were capped by signs of weakening local demand for steel products.
The Dalian Commodity Exchange’s most-traded September iron ore closed the morning session up 1.0% at 770 yuan ($108.63) a tonne. Most-active July iron ore on the Singapore Exchange, however, fell 1.3% to $100.86 a tonne.
Imported iron ore stocked at China’s ports dropped to 107.75 million tonnes last week, the lowest since October 2016, SteelHome consultancy data showed. SH-TOT-IRONINV
The further decline in portside inventory showed Chinese steel mills’ strong demand for iron ore as they continued to ramp up production, with crude steel output rising 8.5% in May from a month earlier.
In the first five months of the year, China’s crude steel output rose 1.9% from same period in 2019.
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