Jul 4, 2024
Iron Ore Hits Highest in Month on Hopes China’s Demand Improving
Bloomberg News
,![A worker stands next to piles of steel reinforcing bar at a metal stock yard in Shanghai, China, on Monday, June 7, 2021. China’s iron ore imports in May tumbled to their lowest level in a year as record prices deterred buyers of industrial commodities and the economic recovery from the pandemic begins to slow. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg, Bloomberg A worker stands next to piles of steel reinforcing bar at a metal stock yard in Shanghai, China, on Monday, June 7, 2021. China’s iron ore imports in May tumbled to their lowest level in a year as record prices deterred buyers of industrial commodities and the economic recovery from the pandemic begins to slow. Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg](/polopoly_fs/1.2092815.1720101025!/fileimage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_620/a-worker-stands-next-to-piles-of-steel-reinforcing-bar-at-a-metal-stock-yard-in-shanghai-china-on-monday-june-7-2021-china-s-iron-ore-imports-in-may-tumbled-to-their-lowest-level-in-a-year-as-record-prices-deterred-buyers-of-industrial-commodities-and-the-economic-recovery-from-the-pandemic-begins-to-slow-photographer-qilai-shen-bloomberg.jpg)
(Bloomberg) -- Iron ore touched its highest in nearly a month as traders bet on a modest improvement for China’s steel market.
Futures in Singapore rose the previous four trading days and are up more than 6% this week due a tick-up in demand and hopes for a stimulus boost at a major Chinese political gathering — known as the Third Plenum. The steelmaking ingredient is now solidly above $110 a ton after trading below that threshold for most of June.
Iron ore has rebounded from below $100 a ton in May, after the government unveiled a rescue package for the key property sector. But real estate prospects are still murky and attention is focused on what policies emerge from the Third Plenum in mid-July, where China’s Communist Party elite will flesh out long-term goals.
Mills still have appetite for iron ore with their furnace run-rates at high levels and there has been a recent rebound in steel demand, Chaos Ternary Research Institute said a note. Expectations for China’s economy are improving ahead of the July meeting, it added.
Futures in Singapore were little changed to $113.45 a ton as at 11:35 a.m. local time, after gaining as much as 0.4% earlier. Dalian prices dipped slightly while steel futures were little changed in Shanghai.
--With assistance from Winnie Zhu.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.