BEIJING- Iron ore futures prices gained on Monday, buoyed by the prospect of potential measures to bolster the feeble steel industry in top consumer China and expectations of a wave of post-holiday restocking from the country’s steelmakers.
The most-traded September iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) ended morning trade 0.85 percent higher at 773.5 yuan ($106.94) a metric ton.
The benchmark May iron ore on the Singapore Exchange was up 4.63 percent at $102.9 a ton.
The Singapore benchmark had dropped by 1 percent during April 4-5 trade when Chinese markets were closed for a public holiday after Beijing said last Wednesday that it would continue to manage crude steel output in 2024.
“The increase in hot metal output ahead of the public holiday showed that some steelmakers are in the middle of resuming production,” analysts at First Futures said in a note.
Average daily hot metal output among Chinese steelmakers surveyed climbed by 1 percent from the previous session to about 2.24 million tons, as of April 3, the highest since late-February, data from consultancy Mysteel showed.
