Iron ore crashes on economic gloom, supply pressures

Iron ore futures tumbled on Friday, with the steelmaking ingredient sinking below $80 per tonne in Singapore and leading a ferrous market rout in China spurred by a gloomy outlook for global steel demand and supply-side pressures.

The most-traded November iron ore on the Singapore Exchange SZZFX2 fell as much as 3.6% to $78.80 a tonne, the lowest since 2020. It was down 2.2% at $79.90, as of 0801 GMT, and has fallen more than 50% from its April peak above $160.

On China's Dalian Commodity Exchange, the most-active January contract DCIOcv1 ended daytime trade 4.9% lower at 624.50 yuan ($86.31) a tonne, on track for its third consecutive weekly fall.

Spot iron ore, meanwhile, tumbled this week to the lowest since May 2020 below $90 a tonne SH-CCN-IRNOR62, as negative margins prompted Chinese steel mills to rein in output.

The International Monetary Fund said it does not expect a speedy resolution to the property turmoil in China.