China iron ore futures contract held its ground on Wednesday after falling as much as 1.9% in early trade, fuelled by firm demand outlook despite increasing supplies from big miners.
The most-traded iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange, for January 2020 delivery, recovered from early losses to trade at 622.5 yuan ($88.18) per tonne, unchanged from previous session.
Shipments of the steelmaking raw material from Brazil and Australia stood at 22.7 million tonnes during the week ended Oct.21-27, according to data compiled by Mysteel consultancy, up by 3 million tonnes from a week earlier. Steel futures on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, meanwhile, rose for a second day after smog-prone Hebei province issued an orange smog alert effective from this Friday on unfavourable weather.
The most active construction steel rebar, for January delivery, gained 1% to 3,373 yuan a tonne.Hot-rolled coil, used in cars and home appliances, closed up 0.6% at 3,365 yuan.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Other steelmaking ingredients for January delivery were mixed, with Dalian coking coal edging up 0.3% to 1,261 yuan a tonne, while Dalian coke lost 0.5% to 1,745 yuan a tonne.
* The front-month February 2020 stainless steel futures contract dipped 0.1% to 15,065 yuan a tonne.
* Benchmark 62% iron ore for delivery to China SH-CCN-IRNOR62 slid to $87 a tonne on Tuesday.
* China Iron and Steel Association said it expected full-year crude steel output at nearly 994 million tonnes, up 7% compared with last year.
*China’s three biggest commodities exchanges said on Tuesday they would end their practice of double-counting trades from Jan. 1, 2020 and report on a single-count basis instead to help them meet international standards.
* China’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that China and U.S. trade negotiators will speak again soon.
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Source : https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com