Iron Ore Hits Highest in Month on Hopes China’s Demand Improving

Iron ore touched its highest in nearly a month as traders bet on a modest improvement for China’s steel market.

Futures in Singapore rose the previous four trading days and are up more than 6% this week due a tick-up in demand and hopes for a stimulus boost at a major Chinese political gathering — known as the Third Plenum. The steelmaking ingredient is now solidly above $110 a ton after trading below that threshold for most of June.

Iron ore has rebounded from below $100 a ton in May, after the government unveiled a rescue package for the key property sector. But real estate prospects are still murky and attention is focused on what policies emerge from the Third Plenum in mid-July, where China’s Communist Party elite will flesh out long-term goals.

Mills still have appetite for iron ore with their furnace run-rates at high levels and there has been a recent rebound in steel demand, Chaos Ternary Research Institute said a note. Expectations for China’s economy are improving ahead of the July meeting, it added.

Futures in Singapore were little changed to $113.45 a ton as at 11:35 a.m. local time, after gaining as much as 0.4% earlier. Dalian prices dipped slightly while steel futures were little changed in Shanghai.