On Friday, July 5, 2024, iron ore futures dropped due to reduced hot metal production, yet prices targeted a second weekly gain driven by hopes for more Chinese economic stimulus.
The September iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange DCE fell by 2% to 845.5 yuan ($116.3) per ton.
This followed a one-month high reached the previous day. For the week, the contract rose by 3.2%.
Similarly, August iron ore on the Singapore Exchange dropped by 3.3% to $110.2 per ton, despite an earlier 3.6% rise.
Early-week gains were relinquished due to profit-taking and lower hot metal production.
Consultancy Mysteel reported a 0.1% drop in average daily hot metal output among surveyed steel mills, reaching about 2.39 million tons by July 4.
Analysts from Galaxy Futures noted some mills, facing losses, were reluctant to boost production. This limited the potential for higher hot metal production.
