BEIJING- Dalian iron ore futures prices extended their decline on Monday, dragged down by slow near-term demand recovery and growing doubts on mid-to-long term prospects for the key steelmaking ingredient in top consumer China.
The most-traded May iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) traded 2.08 percent lower at 872.5 yuan ($121.21) a metric ton.
“Ore demand remained under pressure amid slower-than-expected in hot metal output and we do not see any strong driving factors for a price rebound for the moment,” analysts at First Futures said in a note.
Daily hot metal output among mills surveyed declined for a second session by 0.3 percent on-week to 2.23 million tons as of March 1, the lowest since early February, data from consultancy Mysteel showed.
Mounting doubts on whether policymakers in the world’s second-largest economy would announce forceful stimulus to resolve ongoing debt crisis, property woes during the annual National People’s Congress (NPC) which will kick off on Tuesday are also weighing on sentiment. – Reuters
