Iron-ore heads for seventh weekly loss on swelling inventory, falling steel demand
Iron-ore prices fell on Friday and were headed for a seventh straight weekly loss, weighed down by swelling portside inventory and faltering steel consumption in top consumer China, as well as falling global freight rates.
By 04:04 GMT, the most-traded iron-ore contract on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) slipped 1.15% to 733.5 yuan ($107.83) a ton, declining 1.7% so far this week.
The benchmark July iron-ore on the Singapore Exchange was 0.5% lower at $96.95 a ton, a drop of 2.3% so far this week.
Iron-ore stocks piled up at ports in China amid rising supply from major suppliers before the end of the second quarter, keeping prices of the key steelmaking ingredient under pressure.
Chinese portside inventory of iron-ore rose by 1.3% from the week before to 175.44-million tons, as of June 25, data from consultancy Mysteel showed.
Also, China's steel consumption took a hit from high temperature in summer that hindered outdoor activities in some regions and growing trade barriers worldwide constraining exports.
"The rapid fall in downstream steel consumption will decide ore price movement in the medium term," analysts at broker Everbright Futures said in a note.
Moreover, global freight rates slid after the US and Iran reached a preliminary deal to end the more than three-month long war, removing a layer of cost support for iron ore.
Coking coal and coke, other steelmaking ingredients, slid 0.88% and 1.13%, respectively.
Steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange mostly lost ground. Rebar retreated 0.64%, hot-rolled coil shed 0.51%, wire rod dipped 0.15% and stainless steel was little changed.
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