SINGAPORE— Iron ore futures prices traded within a thin range on Tuesday, as investors weighed resilient near-term demand for the steelmaking ingredient against subdued economic data from top consumer China.
The most-traded September iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) held its ground at 723.5 yuan ($100.17) a metric ton.
The benchmark June iron ore on the Singapore Exchange was trading 0.15 percent higher at $99.6 a ton.
“Production among Chinese iron ore mining enterprises continued rising last week as operations resumed at more mines,” said consultancy Mysteel.
The total volume of iron ore concentrate produced increased 2 percent week-on-week to reach 498,800 tons a day on average, according to data from Mysteel.
Hot metal output, typically used to gauge iron ore demand, dipped 0.35 percent month-on-month to 2.45 million tons, said broker Everbright Futures.
While hot metal output fell slightly month-on-month, production is still relatively high, and the demand for steel in manufacturing continues to grow, said broker Galaxy Futures.
On the supply-side, shipments of iron ore from major producers Australia and Brazil increased 9.53 percent month-on-month to 33.48 million tons, said broker Hexun Futures in a note.
