BEIJING- Singapore and Dalian iron ore futures ticked lower with the market concerned over decreasing demand caused by a lingering drop in production among some loss-making Chinese steel mills.
Some mills in northwest, north, and central China implemented maintenance on blast furnaces as part of efforts to curb losses, according to consultancy Mysteel.
The benchmark June iron ore on the Singapore Exchange was 0.45 percent lower at $100.75 a ton, as of 0734 GMT, the lowest since April 25 when it almost broke the psychological threshold of $100 a ton.
The most-traded September iron ore on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) ended daytime trading 0.97 percent lower at 714 yuan ($103.12) a ton, after briefly seeing a rise of 1.6 percent the previous day.
“Demand has been somewhat suppressed by the (blast furnace) maintenance among some mills; but it’s normal to see (iron ore) price rebound to some degree in the short term amid relatively low inventories (at mills),” Huatai Futures said in a note, adding that downward pressure will persist in the long run. – Reuters
