BEIJING: Benchmark iron ore futures in China moved in a tight range on Tuesday, as coronavirus demand uncertainties held back trading ahead of public holidays starting later this week.

The most actively traded iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange, for September delivery, closed down 0.3% at 757 yuan ($107.05) a tonne, a second straight loss.

Trading on the exchange will be closed from Thursday for China's Dragon Boat festival and re-open on Monday.

Iron ore shipments from Australia and Brazil rose by 1.4 million tonnes from the previous week to 26.57 million tonnes for the week ended June 21, data from consultancy Mysteel showed, mainly driven by increase from Australia.

Spot prices for iron ore with 62% iron content for delivery to China fell by $1.50 to $102.50 a tonne on Monday.

Construction steel rebar on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, for October delivery, fell 0.7% to close at 3,610 yuan per tonne.

Hot-rolled coils dropped 1.1% to 3,603 yuan a tonne.

Other steelmaking raw materials were mixed, with Dalian coking coal gaining 0.9% to 1,190 yuan a tonne, while coke dropped 0.4% to 1,949 yuan a tonne.

The August contract for stainless steel futures on the Shanghai exchange ended down 0.2% at 13,190 yuan per tonne.

Global crude steel production fell 8.7% to 148.8 million tonnes in May from a year earlier, while output in China was up 4.2%, World Steel Association data showed on Monday.

Privately held Liberty Steel plans to double output at a British plant to 1 million tonnes in three to five years, processing scrap steel and producing rebar for the construction sector.