SINGAPORE: Iron ore futures prices fell on Monday, pressured by tepid economic data from top consumer China and uncertain near-term demand for the steelmaking material.
The most-traded September iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange traded 1.03% lower at 721.5 yuan ($100) a metric ton, as of 0258 GMT.
The benchmark June iron ore on the Singapore Exchange was 0.56% lower at $99.5 a ton.
Broadly, growth in China’s industrial output and retail sales slowed in April, official data showed on Monday, as a trade war threatened to dampen momentum.
Moreover, property investment in China fell 10.3% in the first four months of 2025 from a year earlier, following a drop of 9.9% in the first quarter, official data showed on Monday.
Hot metal output, typically used to gauge iron ore demand, fell 8,700 tons month-on-month to 2.45 million tons, said broker Everbright Futures, which attributed the fall to blast furnaces undergoing maintenance.
Total iron ore stockpiles across ports in China also grew, inching up 0.26% on-week to 137 million tons as of May 16, Steelhome data showed.
Still, production among Chinese electric-arc-furnace steel producers ended its two-week slide and increased again on May 15, as hopes for better profits and higher steel demand encouraged the mills to lift output, said consultancy Mysteel.
“The number of profitable blast-furnace steel mills in China continued to increase this week, mainly thanks to the recovery in finished steel prices,” added Mysteel in a separate note.
Iron ore eases on uncertain demand but heads for weekly gain
Other steelmaking ingredients on the DCE languished, with coking coal and coke down 2.43% and 2.17%, respectively.
Steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange lost ground.
Rebar fell 1.03%, hot-rolled coil weakened 1.11%, wire rod fell nearly 1.5% and stainless steel eased 0.19%.
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