SINGAPORE: Iron ore futures climbed on Wednesday, buoyed by strengthening ties between top producer Australia and leading consumer China, though gains were capped by concerns over persistent weakness in China’s property sector.
The most-traded September iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) ended daytime trade 1.05% higher at 773 yuan ($107.70) a metric ton.
The benchmark August iron ore on the Singapore Exchange was 1.04% higher at $99.95 a ton, as of 0754 GMT.
With Australia’s exports to China dominated by iron ore, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese travelled to Beijing with executives from mining giants Rio Tinto, BHP , and Fortescue, who met Chinese steel industry officials on Monday.
Iron ore futures rise on strong China trade data
After a meeting between Albanese and Chinese President Xi Jinping, the two countries agreed to a new Policy Dialogue on Steel Decarbonisation, granting Australia insight into Chinese government planning.
Albanese also said a decade-old free trade agreement with China, Australia’s largest trade partner, would be reviewed.
Despite the new decarbonisation dialogue, BHP has determined that producing low-carbon steel products is too costly, and has decided “not to produce green iron or steel ourselves.”
Demand for steel in the Chinese manufacturing industry remains high, while expectations of supply-side policy actions have also driven prices, broker Galaxy Futures said in a note.
Amid a persistent slowdown in China’s property market, crude steel output in June fell 9.2% from the year before, leaving first-half production at its weakest since 2020.
This has offset positive sentiment building up in recent weeks on signs of robust demand, analysts from ANZ said in a note.
Other steelmaking ingredients on the DCE fell, with coking coal and coke down 1.48% and 1.45%, respectively.
Most steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange lost ground. Rebar dipped 0.48%, hot-rolled coil decreased 0.31%, wire rod eased 0.45% and stainless steel was flat.
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