SINGAPORE: Prices of iron ore futures ended lower on Monday, pressured by persistent weakness in top consumer China’s property sector, even as steel benchmarks and steelmaking ingredients posted gains.
The most-traded January iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) dropped 0.31 percent to 796 yuan (USD111.75) a metric ton.
The benchmark September iron ore on the Singapore Exchange was down 0.28 percent at USD105.4 a ton, as of 0703 GMT. China’s new home prices fell by 0.3 percent in August, compared with the previous month, continuing a downward trend that began in May 2023 and highlighting weakness in housing market demand.
Meanwhile, new bank loans in China rebounded in August after an unexpected contraction in July, but the recovery was weaker than anticipated as the property downturn and government efforts to curb industrial overcapacity continued to dampen credit demand.
China’s crude steel output dipped 0.7 percent year-on-year, with production over the first eight months of the year down 2.8 percent compared with the same period last year.
Still, iron ore futures logged a third consecutive weekly gain last week, driven by renewed steel mill activity in China after the conclusion of environmental production restrictions related to a military parade, said analysts from ANZ.
Domestic demand for construction steel is expected to recover slightly in September, driven by better weather conditions in some regions and the improved financial health of some non-real estate sectors, according to Chinese consultancy Mysteel.
Other steelmaking ingredients on the DCE climbed, with coking coal and coke up 4.4 percent and 4.62 percent, respectively.