By Michele Pek
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Iron ore futures prices faltered on Tuesday, weighed down by a recovery in iron ore shipments, with increasing levies and legislations on Chinese steel exports putting further pressure on sentiment.
The most-traded May iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) closed down 2.17% at 813 yuan ($111.97) a metric ton.
The benchmark March iron ore on the Singapore Exchange was 2.23% lower at $105.95 a ton as of 0705 GMT.
A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers is introducing a legislation to address the impact of Chinese-supported companies moving portions of their production to other countries to circumvent American duties.
The legislation would also toughen anti-dumping rules.
This comes after the U.S. announced 25% tariffs on all steel imports earlier this month, with South Korea provisionally imposing tariffs on Chinese steel imports last week.
Meanwhile, Vietnam will impose a temporary anti-dumping levy on some steel products from China, according to a trade ministry document seen by Reuters.
“Iron ore prices were also lower, as data showed a pick-up in supply which weakened support for the steelmaking raw material,” analysts at ANZ said.
The total volume of iron ore dispatched from companies in Australia and Brazil under Mysteel tracking rebounded to 25.8 million tons as of February 23, ending a two-week slump, according to data from Chinese consultancy Mysteel.
Meanwhile, the outlook for China’s property sector has turned gloomier, a Reuters poll showed.
Home prices this year likely to fall at a faster pace than previously estimated despite Beijing’s efforts to stabilise its crisis-stricken property sector, which is a major consumer of metals.
Other steelmaking ingredients on the DCE lost ground, with coking coal and coke down 2.47% and 2.25%, respectively.
Steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange declined. Rebar weakened 1.95%, hot-rolled coil shed 1.55%, wire rod was down 0.9%, while stainless steel dipped nearly 0.8%.
($1 = 7.2608 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Michele Pek; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Varun H K)
