Benchmark iron ore prices in Asia fell on Monday on growing fears of weakening demand for the raw material in top steel producer China, where multiple cities are enforcing fresh COVID-19 curbs.
The most-traded iron ore, for September delivery, on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange ended morning trade 4.5 percent lower at 731.50 yuan ($109.03) a ton, after earlier touching 723.50 yuan, its lowest since July 6.
On the Singapore Exchange, the steelmaking ingredient’s front-month August contract SZZFQ2 slumped as much as 4.1 percent to $108.25 a ton, also the weakest since July 6.
“Relentlessly negative COVID headlines out of Gansu, Guangdong, Henan, Macau, Shanghai, and Zhejiang over the weekend will pour ice-cold water over sentiment from Monday onwards,” said AtillaWidnell, managing director at Navigate Commodities in Singapore.
