Iron ore futures prices experienced a slight decrease on Thursday, primarily influenced by subdued demand from China’s manufacturing and infrastructure sectors. These pressures were somewhat offset by expectations of inventory replenishment in anticipation of the upcoming Chinese National Day holiday, which helped to limit further losses.
The most actively traded January iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange fell by 0.12 per cent to 800 yuan ($US112.55) per metric tonne. Simultaneously, the September iron ore benchmark on the Singapore Exchange also saw a decline, trading 0.19 per cent lower at $US105.25 a tonne.
Chinese broker Galaxy Futures noted that manufacturing and infrastructure investments continued to show negative year-on-year growth in August. Additionally, end-use steel demand experienced a sharp decline in the third quarter, contrasting with the 7 per cent year-on-year increase observed in manufacturing steel consumption during the first half of the year. Galaxy Futures believes that the forthcoming inventory replenishment ahead of the Chinese National Day holiday could provide some support to the ferrous metals sector.
