China's steel futures higher after falling over 3 percent

Steel futures in China closed higher on Thursday after falling more than 3% in early trade on demand concerns due to the fast-spreading coronavirus pandemic.
Hot-rolled coil futures on the Shanghai Futures Exchange ended up 0.4% at 3,220 yuan ($453.63) per tonne, erasing early losses but still marked their lowest closing price since November 12.
The most active construction rebar contract for May delivery edged up 0.2% at 3,377 yuan a tonne at close. Benchmark iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange also recovered after a 3% drop earlier, ending up 0.9% at 647 yuan a tonne.
"We have started to see ships departing from major ore terminals down 4-7% since two weeks ago," Singapore-based steel and iron ore data analytics company Tivlon Technologies wrote in a note.
"It is likely to see the numbers going down further as stricter social distancing measures kick in worldwide," the note said.
Shanghai steel futures had fallen followed by a dive in raw material prices. Tang Binghua, an analyst with Founder CIFCO Futures, said the drop during early trade was due to sluggish demand and market adjustments especially given some gains in the previous weeks.
Spot price of benchmark iron ore with 62% iron content for delivery to China fell by $1 to $83.5 per tonne on Wednesday. Shanghai stainless steel futures for June delivery edged down 0.3% at 11,955 yuan per tonne.
Other steelmaking ingredients were mixed, with Dalian coking coal down 0.9% at 1,233 yuan per tonne, while Dalian coke rose 0.2% to 1,750 yuan per tonne. China is considering temporarily easing quotas designed to boost production of electric cars to help automakers badly bruised by the coronavirus pandemic to revive slumping sales.
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