SHANGHAI: Spot iron ore prices stood unchanged again on Tuesday as Chinese steel mills suspended purchases while suppliers deserted the market, with traders expecting prices to soften later in the week.
Pilbara fines with 61.5 percent iron content were being offered at $135-138 per tonne on Tuesday, including cost and freight, unchanged for the fourth consecutive day, Chinese consultancy Umetal said.
"The market is pretty quiet these days with suppliers going off for Christmas, and iron ore prices are likely to soften until after the new year holiday," said Xu Guangjian, iron ore analyst with Umetal.
Steel mills in the world's top buyer China boosted stockpiles last week, driving up spot prices by around 4 percent.
Some traders expect steel mills to return to market to build up stockpiles for the Chinese new lunar year in the last week of January, which would prop up prices of the steelmaking raw material again.
"There should be another wave of restocking before the new lunar year, but it's hard to say for sure as steel prices are still weak," said an iron ore buying official with a small-sized steel mill in eastern China.
The most active rebar futures on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose to 4,236 yuan ($670) per tonne on Tuesday, compared with 4,226 yuan per tonne for the previous close.
Rebar futures rose only 1.5 percent from the beginning of December, as steel demand in the world's No.1 steel-producing country declines in the winter season.
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