SINGAPORE- Iron ore futures strengthened on Monday as brightening demand for the key steelmaking ingredient in top consumer China outweighed US tariff concerns.
The most-traded May iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) climbed 1.97 percent to 776 yuan ($106.90) a metric ton.
The benchmark April iron ore on the Singapore Exchange advanced 1.49 percent to $101.4 a ton.
“Production among China’s independent electric-arc-furnace (EAF) steel producers increased further this week in response to the continuous recovery of domestic steel demand,” said consultancy Mysteel.
The average capacity utilization rate for EAF mills rose for the sixth straight week on Friday to 54.9 percent, its highest since June 2024, data from Mysteel showed.
Hot metal production, typically used to gauge iron ore demand, increased significantly month-on-month, while manufacturing steel demand remained high, broker Galaxy Futures said.
Portside iron ore inventories eased about 0.1 percent to 138.5 million tons as of March 21, per weekly data tracked by SteelHome.
